Semper Fi
by shadowblade-tara
Summary: Decepticon attacks start again after 25 years of silence. This time, though, it's a group of Marines lead by Annabelle Lennox that will lead the human counterattack. FINALLY COMPLETE!
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Transformers © Hasbro, Paramount, and Dreamworks. All unrecognizable characters © mine.

**chapter one**

The military transport van shot down the highway at an alarming speed, preceded by two police cruisers with flashing lights and wailing sirens. The highway had been closed down for them, facilitating movement in an otherwise crowded city. Usually no one made this good of time in Washington DC. Inside the transport were what had suddenly become the six most important people in the USA, all of them Marines and longtime associates.

On one side of the transport sat a thirty year old woman with blond hair and blue eyes known as Ashley Stringer. To her left was Irishman David O'Connell, and to his left was the New Yorker Brian Jones. On the other side sat a young black man named Michael Epps. To his right was a slightly older Asian man identified as Kim Sing; to his right a young woman with her father's dark hair and her mother's blue eyes. This was the leader of the group, not the oldest or the most experienced, but the most determined. She was a natural soldier, but that was to be expected with her background.

She was Marine Lieutenant Annabelle Lennox.

None of the soldiers were armed, and all were dressed in regular street clothes. Out of all of them, Stringer was the best dressed, having been summoned from a date with her fiancée. All were nervous.

Epps, as usual, was the one to break the tension.

"Man, I wish I had a smoke."

Anna laughed. "I'm surprised your dad didn't beat that habit out of you." she teased.

Epps grinned at her. "Hey, in this profession, I doubt I'll live long enough to die of lung cancer." he pointed out. "'Sides, who was the one who snuck off base to buy me smokes in basic? I seem to remember that being you, Lennox."

Sing laughed. "Yes, I seem to remember covering her butt too when she almost got caught." he joined in the good-natured heckling.

"Oh, shut up." Anna shot back with a grin. "Just remember who outranks you. Oh, wait – that would be me."

"And we only pay attention to that in polite company." Stringer teased from her safe position on the other side of the transport. "I don't think we're doing escort duty this time."

"Yeah – maybe we'll see some real action." Jones said, speaking up for the first time. "We haven't actually gotten deployed since we first got out of basic."

"You haven't." Anna pointed out. "They called me off of leave for this, so it better be good."

"They're taking us to the Pentagon." O'Connell said, and suddenly the group went serious. "I believe we are to be briefed by the SecDef."

Jones made a face. "Great. That means we're probably being brought into something top secret. Then we'll be erased, so we'll make perfect little secret soldiers."

"You know, you picked a bad profession if you're paranoid of the government." Epps pointed out.

Anna smiled to herself, but didn't say anything. Her father had told her stories about Mission City when she was a child. She had never met any of their new allies in person, but she knew all about them. If Epps' father had told him half the stories her father had told her, he knew about them as well. Jones would freak out if he knew that the government really did have huge secrets, and emphasis on 'huge'.

The transport finally came to a halt in front of the Pentagon. A second later the doors to the transport opened and a man in a black suit stood there watching them. Anna made a face. Beside her, Epps starting humming music from Men in Black. Sing snickered under his breath.

The Secret Service agent didn't say anything about it. "Follow me, please."

Anna got out first, tailed closely by Epps, Stringer, Sing, O'Connell, and Jones. They were tense, unarmed, and very, very twitchy. If they had been armed, it probably wouldn't have taken much to set off a firefight. The deeper into the Pentagon they were lead, the worse their nervousness got.

They were finally lead into a conference room, and the group relaxed a bit at the sight. The SecDef Keller was there, as was anticipated, but so was retired Army captain Will Lennox with a slight smirk on his face. It made Anna feel better to know her father knew what was going on. Epps caught her eye and winked at her as they lined up in front of the SecDef.

"You know who we are." Keller said as soon as the SS agent left the room. "Now you need to know why you're here.

"At 0500 yesterday morning, a small city in South Africa was attacked. It doesn't sound like much, but the method of attack caught the attention of our Intelligence agents." He looked them over. Sing looked like he desperately wanted to make some smart remark, but was biting his tongue. The rest were watching him with expectant looks. An attack in South Africa of all places wasn't their problem, under normal circumstances. Keller continued. "The method matched what happened to our base in Qatar 25 years ago."

Eyes flickered over towards Anna and then snapped back to the SecDef. What happened to the base in Qatar was a prelude to what happened to Mission City. Taking a breath, Keller continued. "We are sending you to South Africa. You are to find those responsible for the attack and kill them."

Anna's eyes narrowed dangerously. "Will all due respect, sir, by ourselves?" she demanded. "I know what happened to the base – it was a miracle as many as did survived. I will not lead my team on a suicide mission."

Will cut her off. "You won't be fighting this alone." he assured her. "Our allies will be waiting to meet you at the airport, which means it's your job to brief your team on the situation."

"So long as our allies don't mind a demonstration." Anna said quietly.

To her surprise, Keller rolled his eyes. "Somehow, I don't think they mind showing off." he muttered.

A brief chuckle rippled through the room. Epps glanced at Anna. "So what exactly are we going up against?" he asked.

Anna offered a tight smile. "Decepticons."

"I was afraid of that."

Sing looked at the two. "What are Decepticons?"

"I'll explain on the way." Anna glanced at the SecDef, waiting for him to dismiss her. He nodded, and she lead her group out of the room.

After the door closed, Will turned to Keller. "Man, I hope they make it to Africa." he muttered.

Keller glanced at him. "You think they won't?" he asked. "The Decepticons don't know we're coming."

"The ones in Africa don't." Will said darkly. "But you can't tell me there aren't some still stateside. They'll know as soon as word hits the computers."

"Then we'll have to make sure the Autobots that are still stateside know about the danger." Keller said with all confidence. "Don't worry, Captain. We'll take care of your daughter."

"You don't need to." Will said, a proud smile crossing his face. "Anna can take care of herself."


	2. Chapter 2

**chapter two**

Thirty minutes after being briefed by SecDef Keller, the team was geared up and ready to go. Standard military fatigues had been donned, weapons were now slung over shoulders, and the general atmosphere was considerably more cheerful now that the group had ammo and an enemy to wipe out. The known was always easier to deal with than the unknown. Each soldier carried a Ka-Bar and a 9mm Beretta sidearm. Stringer, Jones, and O'Connell carried M249 light machine guns. Epps and Sing favored M16A4 assault rifles. Anna preferred her trusty M40A3 sniper rifle when long range was needed, and if she had to, she also used the M16A4.

Sing was currently playing with his Ka-Bar as he spoke. "So, tell us about these Decepticons we're supposed to be fighting."

Jones gave him a look. "You're going to cut yourself you know." he muttered. Sing just flashed him a grin and ignored him. Jones groaned.

Anna leaned against the side of the transport and sighed. Once again, traffic had been cleared for them as they made their way to the airport just outside of DC. "This is going to be hard to explain, because I don't know all the details myself." she said slowly. "So bear with me."

"We're bearing." Stringer said with a grin. "Just spit it out."

"Remember Mission City?" Her team nodded. "The Decepticons were the alien species that took out Mission City."

Silence descended on the group. Jones was the one to break it. "Aliens?"

"Yes. Big ones." Anna looked at them. To their credit, there were no looks of disbelief. They were simply waiting for an explanation. "From what Dad told me, the Decepticons and the Autobots are two factions of a race of robots that can transform into Earth vehicles. Decepticons hate us and want us to die, the Autobots are more interested in keeping us alive. So now you understand why I'm not too keen on going to fight these guys without some serious backup."

"So these Autobots," O'Connell began slowly, "they are going to help us fight the Decepticons?"

"Yes." Anna met his eyes evenly. "I know how it sounds. And I haven't actually met any of them. But I trust my dad, and if he says they exist and the Autobots are the good guys, then I believe him."

"Hear hear." Epps said, and he flashed Anna a lopsided grin. Anna smiled appreciatively. "I say we get to South Africa, hook up with our new friends, and kick some alien butt."

"Sounds like a plan to me." Sing said with an easy smile. "I personally have wanted to fight aliens since reading about them in comics."

Anna couldn't help but laugh. They may not have believed her yet, but they trusted her enough to give her the benefit of the doubt. It was more than she could ask for.

/----/

Given present circumstances, Optimus Prime wasn't surprised to get a request from Will Lennox to meet him on the Lennox ranch. Ironhide and Ratchet were already there, as was the newly-resurrected Jazz. Bumblebee was currently staying with Sam and Mikaela and their thirteen year old son. Optimus transmitted a greeting to his comrades, all of whom were in their alt modes. They must have made for an interesting sight – a diesel semi, a black GMC Topkick, a rescue Hummer, and a silver Pontiac Solstice, all surrounding an older man who was more comfortable with talking vehicles than he was with most of his own kind.

Ever since Sarah Lennox had died of leukemia ten years ago, Will had turned to the Autobots for distractions from his grief. Watching his daughter go through basic training had also been a welcome change for the older man. She was following in his footsteps, and he could not have been more proud of her.

"I assume this is not a social call." Optimus said gently, prompting Will to speak.

"It's not." Will admitted. "I have an odd request – from one paranoid soldier to another."

"Name it." Ironhide said immediately. Ironhide, of all the Autobots present, knew paranoia the best. He had been a soldier long before there had been a war to fight in. A deep-seated respect for Will only increased his desire to aid the soldier in any way possible.

Will flashed him a grateful smile. "It's Anna and her team. I know there will be Autobots waiting for them when they get overseas, but I'm afraid the Decepticons here will try and stop them from getting that far."

"You want us to run interference for them until they make it safely over water." Ratchet deduced.

"Right." Will nodded. "Keller isn't even considering that this might be a trap. I don't want them caught with no backup."

"Understandable." Optimus hesitated, running the necessary calculations in his mind. "They are a little over one-third of the way to the airport now. If the Decepticons are going to attack, it will most likely be before they exit the city, where there will be civilians to hamper their movements. We will be waiting on the outskirts to hopefully draw the battle towards us."

Will nodded, relief plain on his face. "Do you want me to scrape up a few soldiers to help clear the area?" he asked.

"That would be helpful if you can clear our route." Jazz said thoughtfully. "With Anna's team already there, we shouldn't need the extra soldiers to help us fight."

Will couldn't help but laugh at that. "Not likely, with the way her team acts." He snapped a smart salute. "Thank you."

/----/

From high in the sky, and well beyond anyone's concern, Starscream flew above the convoy. It seemed their diversion worked. Now their enemies were starting to emerge from hiding. And where the humans were, their Autobot friends were sure to arrive.

The Autobots were the ones Starscream was after. The humans were only bait, after all. If they died, all the better. Humans were notoriously tricky creatures – what they lacked in power they made up for in persistence and creativity. Once they learned the truth of this attack, assuming they learned the truth, Starscream would have to take great care to eliminate them all.

He couldn't have them coming after him to exact revenge. After all, it had only taken one human with a creative idea to destroy Megatron.

He wouldn't allow the same fate to fall on him.

"Is everyone in position?" he transmitted to the others.

"_Affirmative."_ Barricade sent back. _"I have confirmed locations of Blackout, Scorponok, and Soundwave. Three others are on their way. When the Autobots get here, they won't stand a chance."_

"That is the plan." Starscream said smugly. "On my mark, we attack."

/---/

An: Thank you guys for the wonderful response! Next chapter, the real action begins – and as a heads-up, my battle scenes aren't too great, so suggestions would be welcome.


	3. Chapter 3

**chapter three**

"Do you hear that?" Stringer demanded. The group fell silent, listening hard. Over the noise of the transport, they could hear another familiar sound – that of the F-22 Raptor engines as it flew overhead. Jones shrugged uneasily.

"Maybe the Air Force is going to give us a lift." he offered, but he didn't believe that any more than his comrades did. They could all feel it – the growing anxiety that something had gone horrifyingly wrong. Anna moved to the back of the transport, a military issue H1 Hummer, and peered out the back window. An odd sight greeted her eyes.

"We're being followed by two Lamborghinis and an F-22 that's flying way too low." she reported. "There's also –" she cut herself off. The police cruiser behind them wasn't that unusual. What was odd was the way the yellow Lamborghini was staying in between the Hummer and the police cruiser. Its red companion seemed to be tracking the F-22 as it kept a steady pace over the convoy. "Epps, get on the radio and ask Captain Lennox for a list of known Decepticons and their makes."

"On it." Epps said, his voice muffled.

"You think we're being followed?" Sing demanded, hefting his weapon.

"The highway is supposed to be clear, and F-22 pilots never fly below buildings." Anna pointed out. "If I had to hazard a guess, I'd say we're about to be attacked." She hesitated. Confined as they were to the Hummer, there really wasn't anything they could do. The Hummer was armored and well protected, but the thought really didn't reassure her. Right now their lived depended on the two Lamborghinis being friends of theirs, and Anna really didn't like those odds. She didn't like leaving her soldiers' lives in the hands of anyone other than herself.

At least she valued them.

"Lennox!" Epps called. "The captain says there are six 'Cons in the area and two Autobots. Our friendlies have taken on Lamborghini alt modes."

Anna nodded. "Ask him who the Raptor and police cruiser are."

Epps relayed the question, and suddenly cursed. "Starscream and Barricade, in that order." he told her. "He says reinforcements are on the way, so I'm assuming these aren't pushovers."

"Like I know?" Anna shot back. "You talk like I've met them or something!"

"Hopefully our reinforcements are heavy-duty ones." Jones said tightly. "There's a tank coming up on our right." O'Connell crossed himself. Epps flashed him a reassuring grin.

Something large exploded against the side of the Hummer, sending it rolling into the other lane of the highway before coming to a screeching halt in the ditch.

/----/

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe skid to a halt and transformed, standing guard over the fallen Hummer. Sunstreaker ran a quick check over its occupants while Sideswipe contacted Optimus. With a sigh of relief, the red Autobot realized all the soldiers were alive and relatively unharmed. Starscream had been messing with them, trying to draw the Autobots out into the open.

It worked. Now Sunstreaker was pissed off, and a pissed off Sunny was something even Ironhide tended to avoid.

"Starscream opened fire!" Sides transmitted to Optimus. "The transport has been wreaked, and we're in the process of being surrounded."

"Hold them off." Optimus ordered calmly. "ETA ten minutes."

"Slag it, Optimus, we don't have ten minutes!" Sunny bit out. Barricade had already switched back to mech form and was closing in fast on the vulnerable soldiers. Sunny activated his cannons and brought them to bear on the charging Decepticon.

But it wasn't him who opened fire. A much smaller weapon engaged from somewhere by his feet, and he could see the bullets slamming in to the more exposed wiring around the Decepticon's ankles. Barricade glanced down to see the source of his irritation, and Sunny blasted him backwards with one shot from his cannon. Sides twisted around to see who had fired the shots.

Sing stood calmly, his M16A4 trained on the shapes that were gathering around them. "I hate being shot at before I even make it to the battlefield." he bit out.

Epps was the next one out of the transport and up to his feet. His eyes immediately tracked up to Sunny and Sides, and he took an instinctive step back. "Man, oh man, Lennox wasn't kidding, was she?" he muttered, his eyes flickering from one Autobot to the other. "Please tell me you're the good guys."

Sides laughed. "We're the good guys." he assured the soldier. "They aren't." He pointed at the recovering Barricade. The Decepticon was staying well clear of Sides' weapons, waiting as his comrades joined him.

"We don't exactly have time for introductions." Anna snapped, helping Stringer and Jones get out of the transport. O'Connell was right behind them. "How long before more of your soldiers arrive?"

"Too long." Sunny said darkly.

"They're coming back again!" Sing shouted, his assault rifle swinging up to take a few more shots at Barricade and his new friend.

Anna made the decision. She hated it, but it was their only choice. They were too much of a target grouped together like this. "Split up! Epps, Sing – with me. Stringer, stay with Jones and O'Connell. Hook up on the southside interstate exit. Go!"

In a flash all six soldiers had ducked into the side alleys and attempted to evade their pursuers. Sunny quickly contacted Optimus again. "Prime! They're splitting up – two groups of three. Sides and I are going to cover them 'til they get far enough into the city."

Optimus grumbled something unintelligible. He understood the reasoning. In a similar situation, he probably would have ordered the same, but did Anna have to do the one thing that would make his job that much harder? He quickly started transmitting to the other Autobots with him. "Our turn to split up then. Ironhide, Jazz – lock on to Anna's signal and follow her. Ratchet and I will find the other three."

"Not a problem." Jazz quipped, as usual unable to take any situation too seriously. Optimus had missed that cheerful attitude for the two years it had taken Ratchet to repair Jazz's body before he could be brought back.

It had been a risk, but that risk had paid off.

"Come on, Jazz." Ironhide gunned his engine. "Let's see if you can still keep up with me."

"I'll always be able to keep up with you, lugnut!" And in a flash the two were gone, chasing each other even as they chased Annabelle Lennox and her soldiers.

"I wonder which one I'm going to wind up fixing this time." Ratchet grumbled good-naturedly.

Optimus just laughed.


	4. Chapter 4

**chapter four**

The particular neighborhood they had retreated into was comprised of several alleyways littered with trash and other debris. It didn't take long for the rockets to start raining down on the six man team. Stringer cursed as fragments of the tall apartment buildings started falling around her. At least one of the Decepticons was shooting into the building trying to bury her team. The bad part was, there were simply not enough Autobots to stop it.

Now that was an embarrassing death, Stringer thought dimly. Buried by alien robots. It definitely wasn't something she wanted on her grave stone.

"Stringer!" Jones skid to a halt just in front of her. She h ad sent him ahead to scout out the other end of the alley. "There's more of them coming in from the back!"

"Decepticons?" Stringer demanded.

"How should I know?" Jones shot back. "Is there a way to tell the difference?" He was panicking now. Jones normally kept a cool head during battle. In fact, he was the one who got them out of messes nine times out of ten. Stringer couldn't blame him for freaking out at the moment. Alien robots trying to kill them was something new, and they thought they'd seen it all.

O'Connell shook his head, drawing her from her thoughts. "It doesn't matter." he said, indicating the way they'd came with his gun. "We can't go back there. We'll be killed."

Stringer sighed. "What, exactly, did you see Jones?"

"A rescue Hummer and a semi truck with no trailer." Jones reported, relief evident in his voice. Reports he could give at the moment. They were normal, and at the moment, he needed normal. Stringer and O'Connell exchanged looks. Why would a Decepticon, who according to Lennox hated humans with a passion, choose a _rescue Hummer_ of all things for its alt mode?

Then again, why would one choose a police cruiser?

"We'll hold out here." Stringer decided. "With any luck, they'll be heading to the battle and not even notice us." Jones and O'Connell nodded, accepting her judgment. Briefly, Stringer wished that Lennox was there with them. She was the leader, not Stringer.

The particular alley that they had taken refuge in was filled with garbage bins and enough basement windows and fire escapes to make a sniper happy. Stringer slid into one of the narrow basement windows. It didn't actually lead to a basement – more like a small crawlspace that was just big enough for Stringer to lay on her stomach and aim her weapon down the alley. She could barely see Jones as he crouched down in a shallow alcove. O'Connell, no doubt, had taken advantage of the fire escapes.

The rescue Hummer rolled to a stop. The alley was just big enough for the thing to make it in without getting stuck. For a moment, nothing happened. Then it spoke.

"You may come out now." he said quietly. "I am not going to harm you."

"Identify yourself." Jones ordered. Stringer was pleased to note that the man's voice wasn't shaking. Talking cars was slightly easier to deal with than massive transforming robots.

"I am Autobot medic Ratchet." the Hummer said calmly. "My companion is our leader, Optimus Prime. He's waiting for us at the end of the alley."

Stringer hesitated. Jones and O'Connell were waiting for her decision. Slowly, she pulled herself out of the basement crawlspace. Jones took a step into the alley and straightened up. O'Connell, Stringer noticed with some amusement, was playing lookout from his vantage point. "A medic. That explains the alt form." She lowered her weapon, but did not shoulder it. There was no telling what else could come down that alley. "I'm Stringer. That's Jones, and up there is O'Connell." O'Connell waved his gun rather cheerfully. Ratchet emitted a static sound that rather sounded like laughter.

"An effective team." he observed. "Will Lennox asked us to retrieve your team from the city. With a bit of luck we can avoid too much damage."

"Sounds like a plan to me." O'Connell jumped from the third story fire escape, landed in the garbage bin, and easily climbed out. "So when do we leave?"

"Now." Ratchet opened his door. "Get in."

/----/

Jazz, Ironhide, we have three of the soldiers. Optimus reported over the secure link. What's your status?

"Slagged off and aiming slightly to the left." Ironhide grunted irritably. "Blackout and that slagging scorpion of his are blocking our access to Anna and her teammates."

"And Ironhide is taking it personally." Jazz quipped.

"And you're not?" Ironhide shot back. He could hear Optimus laughing at them over the communication link, but chose to ignore it. After all, he'd rather Prime find their bickering amusing rather than annoying. "Pit-spawned little fraggers think they own the whole slagging uni – Jazz!"

"On it!" Jazz immediately disengaged from Blackout and took off around the intersection the battle had suddenly erupted around to come between Barricade and the human soldiers. Unfortunately, with Jazz engaging Barricade and Ironhide focused on Blackout, there was nothing to stop Scorponok from attacking the humans.

Anna, Epps, and Sing had the same thought. They simultaneously opened fire on the drone. Their bullets bounced harmlessly off his armor, but it was enough to make the bug pause. After all, it was a group of human soldiers who had blown off his tail. Hissing, Scorponok activated his claw cannons and took careful aim.

Sing shot the cannon, throwing off the aim only slightly. Still, it was enough to make Scorponok target him directly. With his full attention no longer on Anna and Epps, the two soldiers took the opportunity to target the drone's optics.

Ironhide had to admire their effectiveness. Still – "Optimus, we need backup!" he transmitted desperately. Why had so many Decepticons come to destroy six relatively unarmed humans? It didn't make any sense!

Here we come, ready or not! Sides transmitted, and Ironhide almost groaned at his enthusiasm. Sunny and I will take care of Blackout and his bug.

"Which means I get the humans." Ironhide said grimly. "Don't take too long – let us get out and then you guys get out."

"Got it." Jazz said with an easy grin. "No heroics. No matter how much we want to smear them across the sidewalk."

"Slagging right." Ironhide shot back.

There was no time for other words. Sunny and Sides skidded in, transforming at the same moment Ironhide returned to his alt form. He opened his doors. "Get in!"

To his surprise, Epps was the only one to get in the cab. Anna and Sing climbed into the bed of his truck. "What are you guys doing?" he demanded. "I said get in!"

"Look, you're going to need the backup." Anna snapped. "Epps will contact the military and have them bring in air to surface missiles. We'll cover your back while you get us out of here."

Ironhide hesitated, but there was really nothing to say. "I'll go with that." He closed his doors and took off, refusing to think of how ridiculous he must have looked running from a fight with a couple of humans sniping at Decepticons as they went.

"Optimus, we have them."

Good. We'll meet you at the base.


	5. Chapter 5

**chapter five**

Ironhide was pleasantly surprised to have a peaceful trip back to the base. They didn't even draw that much attention from the human vehicles that were still on the highway. They made for an odd sight, but the presence of soldiers in the bed of his alt form kept too many people from questioning things too seriously. They pulled into the base – a human military base that had been adapted for their purposes just outside of Tranquility, where Bumblebee lived with Sam and Mikaela. The yellow mech was already there waiting for them, with his two human charges and their sparkling standing by him. Ironhide always wondered what Sam's son thought about the Autobots. He usually never spoke a word while he was on base, although according to Mikaela he wouldn't shut up at home.

Perhaps they intimidated him. Who knew?

They all came to a halt just inside the gates and a couple of human soldiers shut them. It was only mildly surprising to find Will Lennox already there, approaching them with concern in his eyes.

"Sunny, Sides, and Jazz got back about five minutes ago." Will said, coming to stand in front of Optimus. "We were worried."

"No need." Optimus assured him. He resumed his mech form, and after unloading their human companions, the others followed suit. "As you can tell, there was no damage done to any of us." He glanced behind him, drawing Will's attention to Anna, who was standing by Ironhide as she silently took everything in. Will sighed in relief.

"Thank you."

"It was a pleasure."

"Is anyone but me wondering why the Decepticons would send that many soldiers after a few humans?" Jazz asked suddenly. "I mean, no offense to you guys or anything, but you weren't even properly armed. One or two 'Cons could have taken you out easily."

"None taken." Epps said calmly. "I didn't think about it then, but he's got a point. We weren't supposed to have true support until we reached South Africa. We were vulnerable."

"Perfect time to attack." Anna added quietly.

Sing groaned. "Why can't they at least wait until we're at the battlefield?" he muttered under his breath. "At least then it's a fair fight."

O'Connell shook his head. "How many times do we got to say it, Sing? If you find yourself in a fair fight, your tactics suck."

"Yeah, and the only unfair fight is the one you lose." Stringer added with a grin. Sing rolled his eyes.

"So sue me for trying to be diplomatic." he shot back, but he was smiling.

"How did you wind up on this team?" Optimus asked, taking a sudden interest in the young man. Sing shrugged.

"I'm here to balance out shoot-first-ask-questions-later Lennox." he said dryly. Anna just laughed at him. Optimus couldn't help but notice Ironhide had that look on his face. He was finding Anna more and more interesting the more he learned about her.

"I think we need a round of introductions." Optimus said, kneeling down so he was closer to their level. Not surprisingly, two of the soldiers took automatic steps back. "I am Optimus Prime, the leader of the Autobots. This is our scout, Bumblebee; my first lieutenant, Jazz; our weapons specialist, Ironhide; our medic, Ratchet; and the twins Sunstreaker and Sideswipe."

"But you can call us Sunny and Sides for short." Sides said cheerfully.

Anna took a step forward, drawing attention to herself. "You know who I am." she said calmly. "The other lady here is Ashley Stringer – I guess you could call her our medic. She's the only one who knows how to work the first aid kit." Stringer shot her a dirty look. Anna simply laughed and continued. "This is Michael Epps, you guys know his dad. There's David O'Connell, Brian Jones, and the diplomat on our team is Kim Sing." She shrugged. "We all go by our surnames. Makes it easier to remember everyone."

Optimus nodded. Jones and O'Connell were the two to step back at his approach.

Stringer spoke up. "Who were those guys that attacked us?" she asked. "Other than Decepticons."

It was Ratchet that responded. "Starscream is the leader of the Decepticons now, has been ever since Sam killed Megatron." Sam calmly scratched at the back of his head and made it a point to look anywhere but the new group. Apparently he didn't care for that kind of attention. Anna almost smirked. "Barricade, Blackout, and Soundwave are Starscream's more loyal supporters."

"What about that bug?" Epps demanded.

Jazz laughed. "Scorponok is a drone attached to Blackout." he said. "Wherever he is, you can be sure Blackout ain't far behind, and vice versa."

Anna nodded thoughtfully. "Good. At least I know who I need to turn into massive piles of scrap metal." she muttered under her breath. At Stringer's look, she added, "What? Sing isn't the only one who takes being randomly attacked personally. I like having at least some sort of a warning."

"The enemy only attacks at two times." Stringer reminded her with a laugh. "When you're ready, and when you aren't."

"Still doesn't mean it doesn't piss me off."Anna shot back. "I remember Murphy's laws – I taught them to you." She turned to Will. "So what's our orders now?"

"For now?" Will sighed. "It would be safer if you stayed on the base. The Decepticons won't let this one go very easily. You'll get your chance to fight them again."

"Am I the only person who has a problem with this?" Jones demanded, sounding more than slightly panicked. "I mean, come on! This isn't normal!"

"Talking cars bother you?" Bumblebee asked, amusement plain in his voice.

"No – talking cars that transform into massive alien robots bother me!" Jones shot back.

O'Connell shook his head. "Breathe, Jones." he ordered the older man. "Later, we can all freak out. Right now, we need to be calm."

"Calm. Right." Jones took a deep breath. For a moment, he did appear to be calm, but Anna knew that wasn't going to last. She glanced over at Optimus.

"Don't take it personally." she advised. "He freaked out when he found out I was going to be leading his team."

"Gee, I wonder why?" Will muttered.

Optimus couldn't help but laugh. After all, this kind of banter he was well acquainted with. "Get some rest, all of you. Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day."


	6. Chapter 6

An: From here on out the story more focuses on relationships than it does on action. Give it about three or four chapters, then the action will pick up again. Promise.

**chapter six**

Optimus sat on the hill in the back of the base. The Autobot leader enjoyed using the small uprising of land to keep an eye on the entire base. The entire compound consisted of twenty square miles that the military used to use for war games and practice bombing rounds. Now it had a few buildings set up for human use – two for bunking and showering, one for eating and washing clothes, and one as a rec room. The Autobots had also constructed two massive jet-hangar sized buildings for meeting with humans and resting/recreation during rainy days all on the city side of the complex. The rest of the land was completely bare for other, more combative means.

But not today. Today he could see Jazz, Sunstreaker, and Sideswipe holding races around the buildings. As far as Optimus could tell, Epps, O'Connell, and Jones were involved in that one. Epps was probably the one who instigated it. In one of the Autobot buildings, Ratchet and Stringer were currently reviewing different medical procedures. Apparently the young human woman planned on being a doctor when her time to leave the military arrived. Closer to Optimus and a good distance from the buildings was Ironhide and Anna Lennox, and from the looks of things they were comparing weapons. Why did that not surprise him?

How many times had Will told them Anna was shaping up to be a human version of Ironhide? Optimus had thought he was joking at the time. Apparently not.

"Good view."

Optimus glanced down and was mildly surprised to see Sing standing beside him. The Asian man had taken a liking to the Autobot leader. It was unusual, but Optimus allowed it. "I like being able to keep an eye on my soldiers." he said simply. "Why are you not with the others?"

"We're mingling." Sing said, and Optimus had the impression he was quoting someone else. "More like Jazz and Epps are trying to see who can piss off the Twins first. And of course, Jones and O'Connell have to get in on the action."

"I thought they were racing." Optimus said, turning his optics back to the three mechs.

Sing laughed. "I think that was the idea. Jazz just happens to be getting chased rather than raced, but I don't think he really cares."

Optimus chuckled. "No, he doesn't." That was the Jazz he knew and loved, the fun-loving mech who couldn't take anything seriously, not even his own death. The day six months after his resurrection that Jazz had made a snide comment regarding his death at Megatron's hands, Optimus had known that his soldier would recover. For a while, he had wondered if he had done the right thing, bringing Jazz back.

"Stringer's found a kindred soul in Ratchet." Sing added. "Like Lennox said, she's the only one who knows how to work the first aid kit. She kinda became our unofficial medic, and she takes her job just a bit too seriously." He glanced up at Optimus. "From what I gathered from the Twins, Ratchet has a knack for throwing things at his patients."

Optimus nodded. "The Twins don't seem to care that their mortal, just like the rest of us." he explained. "So when they come into the med bay for the third day in a row, Ratchet likes to remind them about it. He gets – I believe the term is annoyed – very easily."

Sing laughed. "The term we use is pissed off."

The Autobot smiled. "Our term is slagged off."

Sing nodded. "Good enough for me." He sat down next to Optimus. "You know, for being such a cool, level-headed person, you have a crazy group of soldiers here."

"I could say the same thing about you." Gently, so as not to hurt the human, Optimus picked Sing up and placed the man on his shoulder. At Sing's look, he added, "Now I can see you when I talk to you. So how did you end up with them? You don't seem like a combatant, not like Will and Anna."

Sing shrugged. "I'm not. My parents are poor immigrants who work a jiffy store. We didn't have the money for college, and for a human, it's either college or the military if you want to make something of yourself. So I chose the Marines."

Optimus nodded carefully. "Do you regret it?"

"No." Sing gestured at the soldiers in the base. "They're closer to me than my own family. You get in enough firefights with someone, you learn things about them that no one else knows. We _know_ each other. To be honest, we kinda freak out the other teams."

"Why?"

"In the battlefield, you got a lot of officers shouting orders. It gets confusing, but that's the only way to do it." Sing explained. "With us, we don't shout. Lennox looks at us, and we know what we have to do. I know that if I call for one of them, they'll be there. If I get pinned down, all I have to do is call out for someone, and next thing I know I got cover to get out of there." He shrugged again. "We all went through basic together. We're one of the few teams that have never been split up too often over our term. I mean, Lennox got sent out for a few months without the rest of us, but even she doesn't work very well without the rest of us."

Optimus nodded, considering. "I'm assuming 'basic' is your training?"

"Yeah."

"We did not have a basic, like you call it. We found each other at varying times during our war. But after a while, we just simply do not work well unless we are working together." Optimus sighed. He intended to say more, but a sudden explosion drew his attention to Anna and Ironhide. There was a small smoking spot on the ground, and Anna was sitting on her butt laughing. Ironhide was simply watching her with no small amount of amusement. Suddenly, he could hear the conversation, and Optimus almost groaned.

"Do it again!"

"You should have told me you were unstable on your feet. I would have moderated the blast radius."

"Forget that – that was _fun!_ Do it again!"

"It seems that Ironhide has found a new playmate." Optimus said dryly. "I fear for the future of your planet."

Sing exploded into laughter. "You and me both, Optimus." he chuckled. "If the 'Cons don't destroy us, those two will."

Optimus seemed to smile at him. Oh yes, he could like Sing very much.


	7. Chapter 7

**chapter seven**

Unlike most bases she had been stationed at, the mess hall at the Autobot base wasn't very crowded. Including Anna's team, there were twenty soldiers, two commanding officers that outranked Anna, and one liaison officer whose sole duty was to keep the human government from pissing the Autobots off. Anna's team sat together at the same table, and as usual Epps was late. Anna sat up a bit straighter, trying to find her teammate. She didn't like it when she couldn't see her team. It wasn't like they couldn't take care of themselves, things just had a knack for going wrong when they were separated. Anna liked being where she could back them up if they needed it.

Suddenly Epps slid into his seat just in front of Anna, in between Stringer and Jones, and flashed Anna a grin. "Did you miss me?"

O'Connell, sitting on Anna's left, rolled his eyes. "Like a hangnail." he shot back. "Dude, where were you? You're later than normal." Jones nodded agreement. Sing flashed Epps a grin.

"Were you and Jazz out harassing the Twins again?" he teased.

"Very funny." Epps shot back. "Actually, I took the scenic route. Amais was blocking my path, and where Amais is, Grisko ain't far behind." Anna's eyes darkened. Sing and Stringer tensed, while O'Connell and Jones exchanged looks.

"If he tries something on base, he's an idiot." Jones muttered.

O'Connell snickered. "Especially since the Twins are really good at pranks." he added with a grin. "We'll get him back good." Anna simply shook her head as the two continued to debate pranks. She doubted Grisko would do anything while on base aside from being generally unpleasant, but he was _her_ problem. She didn't want her team or even the Twins getting involved.

"Ignore them for now." she said dismissively. "Aside from Grisko and Amais, who else is here?"

Epps shrugged. "According to Jazz, the soldiers don't exactly introduce themselves, so the last normal soldiers they knew was our fathers and their team. The two commanding officers are Derek Bale and Kate Ember." he informed them. "However, I did notice that Grisko's sadistic little sister is here as well." Stringer grinned viciously. While no one was actively violent towards each other on base, Grisko, Amais, and Grisko's sister, Kanya, always managed to clash with the team. It may have been the fact that Grisko was one of those soldiers who didn't care about collateral damage, wars, or anything except his own promotions.

Or it could have had a lot to do with a particular incident back in basic, one that showed Grisko's true nature to the team.

"Well, look who's here."

Anna twisted around in her seat to glare up at the man who was calmly glaring back. He was taller than her, older than her, with blond hair and blue eyes. Anna flashed him a grin. She hated the man, but a fight wasn't worth a night in the brig. "Hey, Grisko. What brings you to my neck of the woods?"

Grisko scowled impressively. "This is my base, Lennox. The question is, what are you doing here?"

"The Autobots invited us." Jones quipped.

"Besides, this base belongs to Optimus." Sing said flatly.

"What does Prime know?" Grisko sneered. "This is our world, not his. When the Decepticons are gone, we'll drive him out too." Sing's eyes flashed, but a look from Anna kept him in his seat. Grisko continued on, oblivious to the mounting tension. "I saw you guys the other day. You're in here, what, twelve hours and already you're acting buddy-buddy with the robots. So what's the story? Hoping Prime will recommend you for a promotion?"

"If he does," Anna said dryly, "at least I'll finally outrank you. Then I can order you to shut your mouth and go away."

She wasn't expecting it. Honestly, she should have been. How many times had she accidentally pushed Grisko's buttons and gotten beat for it? At least then the fights stayed off-base, so neither of them got into trouble for it.

Grisko hauled off and socked her across the mouth, knocking her from her chair. She didn't have the chance to get up and fight back on her own. The others did that for her. In a flash Sing and O'Connell were in between Grisko and Anna, blocking his access to her. Side arms were drawn, but no one fired. Epps was already calling for someone higher-ranked than him, and Stringer and Jones were on the ground beside Anna, checking the damage. There was a dark bruise already forming around the corner of her mouth, but the fire in her eyes was unmistakable. It was only a deep voice, clearly agitated, from outside that stopped her from shoving Sing and O'Connell aside and attacking Grisko then and there.

"What's going on?" Optimus, clearly worried. Apparently Epps put up one heck of a fuss to get someone in there. The commanding officers Ember and Bale walked into the mess hall. Ember hung back a few minutes and said something to Optimus. The Autobot leader didn't look too pleased, but apparently he had bigger problems. Anna could already hear Ironhide demanding to be told what had happened.

Bale walked up to the group, anger clear in the set of his shoulders. "Someone care to explain?" he snapped.

"She attacked me." Grisko said immediately. "I was just trying to defend myself."

O'Connell tensed. "That's not the way I saw it." he snipped. "Grisko backhanded Lennox. Stupid thing to do in front of her own team. We kept him from doing any more damage." Bale glanced over at Anna, and while he could see the damage done, Anna wasn't looking at him. Her eyes were locked onto Grisko, as if waiting for the next attack.

Bale sighed. "Will warned us we'd have problems with you two." he muttered. "All right, Grisko. You know the rules." He walked over and handcuffed the blonde man. "We'll put you in the brig until we can figure out what to do with you." Bale handed Grisko off to Ember, who quietly guided the steaming man away. Bale turned back to Anna. "Go get cleaned up."

Anna snapped a tight salute and stalked away. The others didn't bother going after her. She would be fine with Ironhide out there.

/----/

Ironhide tracked Anna to the hill where Optimus liked to relax. She wasn't facing the base though – her attention was turned to the fence, as if standing guard. Ironhide sat down beside her. "The human soldier hurt you." It was a simple statement, and yet Anna could hear the confusion in his voice. She shrugged.

"Back in basic, Grisko liked to use his rank to get people to do things for him. Breaking the rules, things you could get court-marshaled for." she explained. "He's a power-hungry little man. He tried it on me once, and I told him where to shove it. He attacked me then, too. I laid him out, but we both got thrown into the brig for it. Since we were just starting out, the commanding officer went easy on us and didn't put it in our records. We haven't gotten into a fight on base since then until now. He just hates the fact that he can't make me fear him." She sighed and sat down. "Man, he makes me tired."

Ironhide nodded. "Epps was making threats as they took Grisko away." he said calmly. "Something that I'm pretty sure is physically impossible to do to a human. In fact, it's a threat I've used against the Twins once or twice." He almost seemed to be smiling at her. It was hard to tell. "Where did he pick that up from?"

Anna smirked. "Me. And before you ask, Dad got it from you. He used it once around me, then I got the chance to use it around Epps." She seemed to be in a better mood now, which had been Ironhide's intent from the start. Now if he could just find a way to keep Grisko from ever coming back on base, he figured he might be able to keep her happy.

He had grown dangerously attached to Anna in such a short period of time. Five days together hardly seemed like a lot, but Anna was very much like her father and too much like Ironhide himself. He wasn't the only one either. Each of the Autobots seemed to be taking a liking to Anna's team, even Optimus. It wasn't smart, and it would probably cost them later on in some battle, but it was inevitable, he guessed.

Just one of the risks of living on Earth.

/----/

AN: I got to see Revenge of the Fallen! Holy crap, that was a funny movie! So for those of you who have seen it, this story is going to be taking certain elements from that movie and making them my own. Not to mention a couple of quotes if I can work them in. (grins) More characters next chapter, and plot!


	8. Chapter 8

**chapter eight**

"So how many of you are showing up this time?" a clearly disgruntled Ember snipped, her arms crossed over her chest as she stared at Optimus. The Autobot leader was completely unfazed by the woman's obvious annoyance, a fact that amused Sing to no end. He was currently perched on Prime's shoulder, enjoying being high enough that the commanding officer couldn't do much more than glare at him and his grin. "You do realize that sooner or later, we're going to run out of space?"

Sing could not stop himself. "With all due respect, ma'am, when? In the next century or two?" He thought he heard Optimus chuckle at that one. The massive Autobot had warmed up to Sing rather nicely in the few weeks they'd been on base together. This made Sing inordinately pleased. It was nice to have someone that wasn't either trigger-happy, immature, or completely uncultured to speak with. Optimus returned the sentiment.

Ember's glare increased. "Soldier, I do not believe you are at liberty to tell me what resources we do or do not have." she snipped. Suddenly, probably sensing Optimus's shift in moods, she changed tactics. "Look – all I'm doing is telling you what my commanding officer told me. Despite what you may think, I do have to answer to someone higher-up than me." She spread her hands imploringly.

Optimus sighed. "I do understand that." he assured her. "Only four will be arriving this time. In a few months, however, more will be coming with the Ark. Which means we will be able to take shelter off of your planet when we need to."

The CO's eyes narrowed slightly. Sing shifted, leaning in closer to Prime's 'ears'. "I wouldn't say any more about the Ark than you absolutely have to." he advised quietly. "There's no telling what they'll want to do with it if they learn too much about it." Optimus nodded slightly.

A bright yellow Camaro pulled up beside Optimus and unfolded into Bumblebee. He looked from Prime, who was kneeling so Ember didn't have to strain so much looking up, and followed his example. Optimus shifted his attention to Bumblebee. What did you learn?

Wheeljack sent his report – Hound, Bluestreak, and Cliffjumper are coming with him. the spy informed him. Optimus nodded, satisfied now. Hound and Bluestreak would be no problem with the humans, and neither would Wheeljack – so long as his experiments stayed off-planet – but Cliffjumper might prove a problem. Before he could form a question, though, Bumblebee continued. He also said that Jetfire was bringing the Ark with him.

Ah. Jetfire. That explained a lot. Dismissing Bumblebee, Prime watched as the yellow mech made his way over to where Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, Jones, and O'Connell were resting before returning his focus to Ember. The woman looked annoyed, but not unduly so. Apparently interruptions were as much a part of the human military as they were the Autobots.

"Your people seem to be oddly attached to our soldiers." she said quietly.

Optimus simply stared at her. "Perhaps. Did you expect us to keep to ourselves?"

"To be honest, we hoped for it." Ember sighed. "Ah, well, I need to report back. Thank you for your information." She snapped a salute, turned on her heel, and walked away. Sing watched her go, snapping his own salute out of habit.

"I don't think she likes us." he said quietly.

"I doubt it myself." Optimus agreed. "Still, she is only doing her job."

"Maybe. Her job doesn't mean harassing you about bringing in more soldiers. That's exactly what Starscream's been doing anyway." Sing muttered. Optimus stood up, unconsciously raising a hand so Sing didn't lose his balance. He had grown used to having the human perched on his shoulder like this. It was getting to the point where Anna's team was rarely ever seen outside the company of their chosen Autobots. Optimus wasn't sure if that was a good thing, but he knew there was nothing he could do to stop it. They sought out the Autobots, and on the rare occasions when something kept them occupied, the Autobots would go looking for them.

He supposed it was simply in their nature to protect others.

"Optimus!"

Sing and Optimus turned at the same time to see the black Topkick come barreling across the base to skid to a halt a decent distance away from Prime's feet. Anna quickly got out, and Ironhide resumed his mech form. He wasted no time with formalities. "Decepticons are on the move! Soundwave, Devastator, and Barricade are heading our way."

"They've found the base." Sing murmured.

Optimus didn't hesitate. "Autobots, gather!" He waited the brief minutes it took for his soldiers to gather around him. Unsurprisingly, the humans came as well. While most of the soldiers continued to go about their daily business, O'Connell and Jones stayed with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, Stringer with Ratchet, and Epps with Jazz. Anna stuck by Ironhide, tilting her head back to see what was going on. She grinned up at Sing.

"Enjoying the view?" she teased.

"For once, I'm taller than you!" Sing shot back with an easy grin.

"No fair using the giant robot as a ladder."Anna retorted. Sing just laughed at her.

Optimus interrupted. "The Decepticons are converging on the base. No doubt these three are merely the scouting party. We need a more secluded area to fight them." He scanned his group. To his surprise, Bumblebee, Sam, and Mikaela had also joined the odd gathering. They, out of all of them, knew exactly what was at stake. "Bumblebee, what do you know about the surrounding area?"

"No clear sites available for at least sixty miles in any direction." Bumblebee reported. His voice was slightly staticky, but at least he was speaking now without soundbytes. Mikaela tilted her head, thinking.

"That's not quite true." she said slowly. "The Palatka landfill is about thirty miles west of here. It's been abandoned for a while – Trent used to hold parties out there when he wanted to impress everyone." She rolled her eyes. "It's about ten square miles of nothing but trash."

"Perfect place for Decepticons." Sunstreaker said. Sideswipe nodded assent.

Ratchet frowned. "How do you know about this place and Bumblebee doesn't?"

Sam grinned. "No one put it on the books to keep people away from it. So computer searching would get you nowhere fast." Ratchet nodded, clearly not amused with that situation. Bumblebee simply flashed him a grin. Optimus reached up and gently lowered Sing to the ground.

"Time to roll out." he declaired.

A look passed around the humans, and a decision was reached. Anna stepped forward. "We're going with you." she said.

Ironhide glanced down at her. "It's dangerous." he warned.

Epps laughed. "We're Marines, man. Dangerous is what we do."

Optimus hesitated. "I don't want anyone hurt."

Anna sighed. "Look. We're small, mean, and downright ugly when we have to be. On the plus side, now that we're properly armed and informed, we can provide distractions, extra help for Ratchet – heck, we can even take on that bug and keep him off your backs. The point is, we're useful, and we plan on being useful. So we're coming with you."

Ironhide chuckled. "I don't think she's giving us an option, Prime."

"No, I would say not." Optimus almost smiled at them. "Then we must inform your commanding officers before leaving."

"You got it." With that Ironhide transformed, Anna got in, and the two headed back to the buildings. Optimus sighed again.

Useful, definitely. Expendable, never.

/-----/

An: Okay, having just started watching Gen-1, I'm not really familiar with some of the characters just yet. So if anyone knows the alt modes of Wheeljack, Bluestreak, Cliffjumper, and Hound, I'd greatly appreciate it. Review, please!


	9. Chapter 9

To Silvane: Uh, you got a point. (sheepish grin). Thanks for pointing that out, though. You've given me an excellent idea.

**chapter nine**

There was some amount of conversation as the odd convoy made its way down the highway. Optimus was in the lead, flanked by Jazz and Ironhide. The others followed in a staggered line, with Ratchet and Bumblebee bringing up the rear while Sunstreaker and Sideswipe raced each other as much as they could and still stay in formation. Sam and Mikaela had stayed behind at the base, but only because Bumblebee made them. As for the others, they were hitching rides with their chosen Autobots.

Sunstreaker found it amusing. It might have been less so if the human/Autobot pairings were more even, he decided. For instance, Sing was in no way a leader and yet he was awfully attached to Optimus. Then again, O'Connell and Jones were nowhere near the trouble-making pranksters that Sunstreaker and Sideswipe were, and yet they were rarely seen away from the Twins. Briefly, Sunstreaker had wondered what had attracted O'Connell to him, but decided against asking him about it. After all, he had no idea why he himself was attached to the human either. It must have just been one of those things.

In fact, the only pairing that made any sense at all was Lennox and Ironhide. The Autobot weapons specialist and the shoot-first-ask-questions-later Marine leader. They, Sunstreaker decided, were created for each other.

Suddenly Mikaela's voice crackled over everyone's radio links, interrupting the conversation between them. _"Guys? I think we have a slight problem."_

"Define slight." Bumblebee said good-naturedly.

"_The Palatka landfill has been closed down. Sam and I finally dug up some information on the place. Now it's an abandoned industrial park, or at least according to this it is." _Mikaela sighed. _"I'm sorry. I should have looked it up before I said anything."_

"Twenty-five years is a long time." Anna said calmly. "Information changes."

"_Still, it sucks."_

"The place is abandoned, right?" Stringer asked. At Mikaela's affirmative, she added, "So what's the big deal? We can do what needs to be done no matter where we are."

"Buildings will make it harder for us to keep you safe." Ratchet pointed out.

"They'll also make it harder for the Decepticons to take us out." Jones pointed out from his place with Sideswipe. "We'll be fine."

"So long as the place actually is abandoned." O'Connell pointed out from Sunstreaker's cabin. "After all, the government has this annoying knack for using 'abandoned' to mean 'top secret'." Jones' groaned. O'Connell simply laughed. Sometimes it was way too easy to play off of the younger soldier's paranoia, and O'Connell enjoyed every minute of it.

Sing glanced at the dash. "We could always go in first and make sure nothing is going on." he told Optimus. "Clear out any civilians we find."

"Because Lennox is so good at doing that." Epps muttered.

Anna groaned, and Ironhide couldn't help but chuckle at her exasperation. "Are you still sore about that?" she demanded. "It got us out of there, didn't it?"

"I still think it could have been done a better way than running down the street screaming about a bomb threat." Epps countered.

"We will go to this industrial park." Optimus decided, not sure whether to be amused or exasperated at the by-play. They sounded so much like his own soldiers it was hard to remember that he was dealing with a group comprised of Autobots and humans. "Anna, I would like your team to check for civilians before the Decepticons arrive. We won't have much time."

"You got it." Anna assured him.

"We're not going to have air support this time." Stringer pointed out. "Anyone but me remember how to use rocket and grenade launchers?"

"They'd better, 'cause me and Ironhide got 'em." Anna said with a laugh. "We're ready to rock and roll."

"A human after my own spark." Ironhide teased.

"Primus help us all." Ratchet groaned.

/----/

The industrial park was dark and quiet. The place comprised of several single-story buildings – factories of some sort, Optimus decided – all surrounding a central five-story tower like spokes on a wheel. It was an odd setup, almost like a fortress. The Autobots assumed their mech modes once the humans were clear. Optimus turned to Ironhide. "Run a thermal scan." he instructed. "Tell me what you see." Something wasn't right.

Apparently the humans were picking up on it too. Weapons were already in hand, eyes flickering around nervously, trying to find the source of whatever was causing their unease. Anna was sticking close to her team, ready to cover them if circumstances forced them to bail. Still, they didn't have a choice. It was either here, or a fight at the base that was entirely too close to the city. At least here, industrial park or not, the battle would be contained.

"No humans." Ironhide reported a second later. "However, there is something on the third floor of that building in the center. A massive heat signature, but not organic."

"Computers?" Epps guessed.

"Possibly." Ironhide agreed. "It's not sophisticated enough to be Cybertronian."

Optimus made the decision. "Take up positions." he instructed. "It won't be long before the Decepticons arrive."

Anna turned to her team. "Epps, Stringer – with me. We're going to find out what that heat sig is. Jones, O'Connell, Sing, stay here. If that bug shows back up," she handed Sing the rocket launcher, "blow it back to the Pit where it belongs."

"You got it." Sing said, taking the launcher. "You guys just be careful, got it?"

"I'll go with you." Jazz said, shifting back into the Solstice alt mode. "Ironhide's got me curious now." He opened his doors, and the three humans quickly got inside. As he sped off, the other Autobots watched with concern. Bumblebee glanced over at Optimus, but the leader shook his head. There was really nothing they could do but watch. Jazz was a warrior. No matter how much it scared them when he went off on his own (and could anyone really blame them? They had lost their comrade once, after all) they couldn't confine him to base. It just wasn't in his nature to stay behind.

"Positions." Optimus ordered tiredly. "Let's end this."

Jazz had barely made it to the building when the first of the Decepticons arrived. True to form, Soundwave, Barricade, and Devistator were only the first wave. The Seekers were coming as well, and Jazz was pretty sure he heard Blackout in there somewhere. So seven Decepticons – eight, if one included Scorponok – versus seven Autobots and six very determined humans. Not exactly an even fight, but Jazz couldn't decide who's favor it worked for. He opened his doors, letting out the humans, and stood up. Jazz was smaller than most of the other mechs, but even he could reach the third story. He tapped on one of the windows, and it crashed to the ground.

"I'll give you a lift up." he said, lowering his hand. Epps climbed on first, followed quickly by Stringer and Lennox. The black soldier smiled up at him, and Jazz couldn't help but grin back. He gently deposited his cargo in the window. "Let me know when you need to get down."

"You might want to hide until then." Epps advised. "Odd objects draw gunfire."

"Then you're going to get shot at bad enough as it is." Jazz retorted in kind, but he put some distance between himself and the building. Then he hunkered down and waited.

Sooner or later, the Decepticons were going to take out the building, if for nothing more than the fact that it was odd, stuck out like a sore servo, and therefore was probably important to someone, somewhere. It was up to Jazz to make sure his new friends didn't get killed when that happened.


	10. Chapter 10

**chapter ten**

The room was large, freezing cold, and completely devoid of human life. Lennox could see a little in the dim light of what had to be hundreds of computer monitors, all humming away at their assigned tasks. She lead Epps and Stringer deeper into the room, senses on high alert as she waited for something to reveal itself. As any good leader should, she was keenly aware of the locations and movements of her soldiers. She knew instinctively when Epps shouldered his weapon and turned his focus to one of the computers. She was aware of Stringer investigating something on the wall. Her focus was on the door.

"Lennox." Epps' voice was tight. "You need to see this."

"Stringer." Lennox moved to stand beside Epps as Stringer fell into position to guard their backs. Lennox turned her attention to the computer. All she could see were lines of code. "All right, hacker-boy. What am I looking at?"

Epps shot her a dirty look, but at her grin he simply rolled his eyes. Indicating the room with a sweep of his hand, he said, "For one thing, this computer was left on. The rest are in lock-down mode. So someone is working overtime." Lennox made a face. Ironhide's thermal scan hadn't detected any human beings, but with the interference from so many computers, it wouldn't surprise her for someone to be hiding in here. Epps broke through her thoughts. "The other thing is this." He typed in a few commands and heavily encrypted information scrolled across the screen. Lennox felt her gut clench.

Encrypted information, yes. But certain words were not translated into code, and those were words she recognized: Autobot, Decepticon, and Cybertron.

She thought she knew what the information was for, but she wanted to be sure. Unfortunately – "You can't break the encryption, can you?" she asked Epps. He shook his head. "All right. Find something to download the information on. We'll get it to Jazz and see what the Autobots make of it when we get back to base."

Something big exploded somewhere to the south of their position, and all three automatically hit the deck, covering their heads as the building shook. "Better hurry, Epps." Stringer called out. "Looks like the battle has finally begun."

Epps said something rather rude sounding, but he quickly set about searching for something that even resembled a flash drive. Lennox and Stringer had moved from the computers back to the window, getting a decent view of what was going on in the 'streets' below. Jazz was valiantly keeping the Decepticons from attacking the building – Lennox thought they were Starscream and another mech she didn't recognize. However, the Seekers had figured out that something of importance was in the building. They weren't so much firing at Jazz as they were keeping the Autobot pinned down.

Stringer cursed and raced to the other side of the room. "We need to see what's going on behind us." she said, her voice borderline frantic. "They're coming up on the other side, I know it."

"You think we don't know it too?" Epps demanded, finally finding a flash drive and plugging it into the computer. "I ain't no hacker, man! There's only so fast I can move!"

Lennox took aim and fired off a few rounds at the smaller, yet still larger than Jazz, Decepticon who was trying to sneak up behind Jazz. The round didn't so much hurt as distract the unknown – _Barricade,_ she remembered – and that small distraction was all Jazz needed to pick up Barricade and throw him into the two Seekers. Lennox had to chuckle at the way they scattered. Like rats abandoning a sinking ship. Then again, she'd run too if something that big came flying at her.

Jazz glanced back at the window. "You guys set yet?" he called out.

Lennox glanced back at Epps, who quickly pocketed the flash drive and joined her at the window along with Stringer. Lennox grinned and motioned for Jazz to come get them.

That was when Starscream fired a rocket into the ground floor of the building, bringing the entire thing down on all of them.

/----/

Sing was the one to notice the building collapsing in, tumbling to the ground. He shouted in fury and fear, alerting the others to the predicament of their comrades. Optimus was quick to assume control of the rapidly deteriorating situation. "Ironhide, Ratchet – go!" he commanded, knowing those two would be the ones to leave regardless. Acknowledging Prime, the two transformed into their alt modes and took off back towards the toppled building.

Sunstreaker and Sideswipe maintained positions, firing on Thundercracker and Soundwave as Optimus and Bumblebee attempted to keep Devastator from sneaking up behind them. They were doing damage, and almost – _almost_ winning.

It would be a meaningless win if they lost those at the building. Optimus refused to even think of what would happen if any of them were harmed, or worse.

O'Connell shouted out a warning, and all three humans turned their focus to Scorponok. In the midst of the battle, he had managed to sneak up on them. They set up with the speed and efficiency born of years of battle experience and aimed the rocket launcher. They got off one shot before Scorponok opened fire with his claw cannons. They took cover, and Jones glanced around desperately. Where had Sideswipe gotten off to?

Before he could call out, the red mech appeared behind him, firing off a couple of cannon bursts at the scorpion. Scorponok screamed something foul-sounding and scampered away. With all the concrete around him, there was really no way to burrow into the ground.

"Look alive!" Sideswipe said with a grin. "He'll be back before this is over."

"They're retreating!" Bumblebee called out. Sure enough, Thundercracker transformed and took to the air while Soundwave followed. Scorponok was presumably trying to find Blackout while dodging the cannon bursts the Twins were sending his way. Devastator fired off a few more rounds at Optimus and Bumblebee, giving his companions time to get away before he too transformed and left.

For a moment, there was nothing but silence. Sing heaved a sigh of relief and sank onto the ground. "Well that was short." he said with a breathless laugh.

Jones couldn't help but chuckle. "You scared the crap out of me, Sides." he teased. "I look up, and you were gone."

"Just covering your back." Sideswipe said with an easy grin. "isn't that what teammates do?"

"Let's get to Lennox." Sing said suddenly. "I didn't see the other Decepticons take off."

"Follow me." Optimus transformed, allowed Sing to climb into the cab, and took off down the streets, followed closely by his soldiers. From behind him, he could hear the familiar-yet-strange banter of his soldiers.

"Aw, man! My paint's all scratched up!" Sunstreaker griped. Sideswipe laughed.

"No one's gonna know, Sunny." Bumblebee teased.

"When we get back to base, I'll give you a touch-up." O'Connell offered. "I'm pretty good at detailing cars."

They were met halfway by Ironhide, Jazz, and Ratchet. Optimus quickly hailed them on the radio. "What happened?"

Stupid pit-spawned Decepticons tried to take out the building. Ironhide grumbled. Lucky no one got turned to scrap metal.

Hey, I do know how to take care of myself. Jazz protested lightly. Besides, I think it's gonna take more than a few cannon shots to kill off these humans. Epps was already cussing like Sunny by the time 'Hide and the Hatchet got there.

Optimus chuckled at that. "Good to hear." he said, relaying the information to the human in his driver's seat. Sing grinned.

"Very good to hear." he agreed.


	11. Chapter 11

**chapter eleven**

It was pouring rain the next day. Lighting tore across the sky, and thunder nearly drowned out the hushed conversations inside the buildings. Several times, the lights flickered on and off, but so far the power had yet to fail. The Autobots didn't fear a blackout – after all, it wasn't like they had come back from battle with injured. The humans, on the other hand, were clearly nervous.

Especially poor Glenn. Jazz noticed with no small amount of amusement that the man still hadn't gotten used to giant alien robots, never mind that his companion, Maggie, had warmed up to the idea rather nicely. Right now he was working furiously at a laptop he had brought with him, trying to ignore being under Ratchet's scrutiny as he worked on decrypting the information Epps had gotten from the industrial park. Epps himself was perched on Jazz's shoulder, enjoying the vantage point. Sing was in the far corner with Optimus, the Autobot leader giving Glenn plenty of breathing room. Stringer was on the other side of Glenn, the Twins were off to one side watching as O'Connell and Jones practiced hand-on-hand combat (cheering them on, was more like it), Bumblebee was back with Sam and Mikaela, and Ironhide –

Well, Ironhide was standing by the door, arms crossed, optics glaring out at the rain. Lennox had been called to report the previous day's activity, and the Autobot weapons specialist had been forbidden to join. Jazz knew that meant Lennox was in trouble, and the humans in charge didn't want the trigger-happy mech around when they punished her. Jazz had very little experience with human discipline. He wasn't quite sure what they would do to Lennox, and to be honest, the ideas sickened him. He had seen the capacity for malice in the Decepticons, and judging from the humans' history, they could be just as bad.

Epps followed his line of sight and grimaced. "Man, I hope they send Lennox back before he rusts in place." he murmured. Jazz chuckled.

"Ah, don't worry about it." he assured Epps. "It'll take more than that to make 'Hide rust."

"I can hear you." Ironhide said dryly.

Jazz laughed. "He speaks! Finally – you had us thinking you were mute or something." Ironhide shot him a dirty look before resuming his vigil. This time, Epps spoke up.

"Hey man – waiting doesn't make her show up any faster." he advised. "Never has, and it certainly won't work with Ember keeping her busy." Ironhide hesitated. He glanced over at Optimus, silently seeking permission to go get Lennox, but the massive Autobot shook his head slowly. Ironhide scowled, but held his position. He recognized the look that crossed Prime's faceplates.

Optimus had a strict rule about interfering with the human chain of command, but even he was having a hard time distinguishing between his own soldiers and Lennox's team. And really, was it any wonder? They had integrated themselves seamlessly into the Autobots' lives. Already Ironhide was having a hard time imaging going into battle and not having Anna there to watch his back. She had been right – they were useful, and more than that. They were friends.

A second later, sounds outside drew his attention to the door. Aside from the hangar doors they used to keep the rain out, there was a human-sized door cut into those. That door opened, and a soaking wet Anna walked in, followed by her considerably drier father. Sing let out a low whistle.

"What did they do, hold the meeting outside?" he demanded, drawing everyone's attention (except for Glenn's) to Anna. She gave him a look as she attempted to wring out her hair.

"As a matter of fact, they did." she muttered. O'Connell grimaced. Sunstreaker looked between the two humans, for once at a loss.

"Is this common?" he asked uncertainly. Anna shrugged and gave up on her hair.

"Only if you piss them off badly enough." she said with a shiver. Will slid a pack from his shoulders and handed it to Anna. She nodded to him and opened the back, digging out a fresh pair of fatigues. Smiling up at Ironhide, she continued, "Still, it could have been worse. Ember wanted me to pull guard duty in this mess."

Jones snorted in contempt. "Why? Because we got in a fight?"

"No. They're pissed that the park got destroyed." She rolled her eyes as she shed her outer shirt before kneeling down to take off her boots. She would leave them near the door to dry while she used Ratchet's makeshift hospital to change. It was the one place in the room that wasn't open for public viewing. "Something about possible valuable information and all that crap. My guess is Ember knows what was in that place. Bale didn't seem nearly –"

"Anna." Ironhide's quiet voice interrupted her. She glanced up at him, hands still on her boots, and froze. Ironhide's gaze was locked onto her back, and she silently cursed. Should have waited until she was behind closed doors. Ironhide gently reached out and brushed her hair over one shoulder, completely exposing the bruise and laceration that covered her opposite shoulder blade. "That from yesterday?"

"What can I say?" she said lightly, sending Ratchet an apologetic look. "I can't stand being stitched up."

"She gets that one from me." Will said calmly. He too was examining the wound. "Still, Anna, you should have at least wrapped it or something. It's bleeding again."

"Really? I don't feel it."

"Probably because your core body temperature is dropping." Ratchet said, abandoning his position by Glenn (Jazz watched as the man breathed a sigh of relief) and knelt down to run a more thorough scan. "I'm not an expert on human physiology, but I would think the cold rain has numbed the wound. That's dangerous."

Sing came to Anna's defense. "Yeah, but you learn to deal with that." he said. "We got busted up pretty good when they sent us on that special ops mission to Russia, remember?"

"How could we forget?" Epps said with a shudder. "We all got pretty slagged up on that one."

Anna rolled her eyes. "I'm going to go get out of these wet, _cold_ clothes." she said emphatically. "When I get warm and dry, then you guys can hover over me all you want. I'll probably find somewhere warm to stretch out and go to sleep."

"I got it!"

All eyes focused on Glenn. Anna walked over to stand behind him, freezing clothes and injured shoulder forgotten for the moment. Even Optimus adjusted his position so he could better see the small screen. "What is it?" Epps demanded. "Short person on a short mech back here!"

"Hey!" Jazz laughed. "That ain't fair!"

"It's a detailed log of – everything." Glenn murmured. He glanced over at Will, the only person he really recognized in the crowd. "Dude, it's got everything from your first fight with the scorpion to the few battles right before the showdown at the industrial park." His wide eyes traveled from Will to Anna to Optimus, who was listening in intently. "And I do mean _everything_. Dudes, they got information on weapons, connections, everything – there's even a whole section in here about Sideswipe and Sunstreaker being twins and how that affects them in battle. It's insane!"

"Why would the humans feel the need to collect so much data?" Ratchet wondered.

Anna and Will exchanged dark looks. "I can think of a reason." Will hissed. He turned to Optimus. "I'd say they're gathering intel in case you guys turn on us."

"The problem is, they're probably going to turn on you first." Anna said darkly. "To be honest, it was really just a matter of time. They probably set this up the first time you guys refused to share weapons information with them. These stats aren't accurate."

Jazz nodded. "Same kind of thing I used to do with the 'Cons." he said with a shrug. "Get in, get information, and get out. Usually, though, I didn't make it a habit to buddy up with the ones I was plannin' on taking out."

Optimus nodded, taking everything in. "Is there any way this interpretation can be inaccurate?"

"Definitely." Stringer said. "If it's not, we'll have at least some sort of warning before everything hits the fan."

Prime nodded. "Autobots, be on guard. With Wheeljack and the others coming in tomorrow, we don't want to be caught unawares."

Ironhide nodded. "In the meantime –" he picked up Anna and let her curl up in the palm of his hand. "You need to get warm, and then let Stringer wrap your shoulder again."

Anna flashed him a grin as she let herself relax into the warmth his hand produced. "Sure thing."


	12. Chapter 12

**chapter twelve**

The rain had slacked off to a drizzle by now, leaving an odd sort of mist that obscured most of the buildings from human eyes. But Optimus wasn't human, and he wasn't dependent on mere sight alone to detect the presence of his human allies. He watched as Anna's team went about their morning rituals, from showers to switching guards. It was all so very familiar to him, a reminder of a time way back when on Cybertron, before the Decepticons became so much of a threat. He could remember changing guard duties with other Autobots long before he was ever a leader, before there was even a war. Like the humans, the Transformers kept something that resembled militaries in times of peace.

They never expected the threat to come as a civil war.

"Optimus!" The Autobot leader turned his head, a smile already lighting his features as he saw Sing racing towards him. The Asian soldier skid to a halt just beside him, breathing heavily. Optimus picked him up and set him on his shoulder. Sing flashed him a grin as he struggled to catch his breath. "Sorry. Ran – all the way – across base."

"Why?" Optimus asked, amusement plain in his voice.

Sing's grin grew wider. "Because Ratchet is on a rampage, and I didn't want to get caught in the crossfire." he said. "Apparently the Twins decided to spring some sort of trap on him. I didn't quite see what happened, but O'Connell said the Hatchet was _slagged off_ and we were to avoid him at all cost. He also told me that I haven't seen him, so I think he and Jones were involved in this one." He shook his head. "I think the Twins are corrupting them."

"The Twins have that affect on people." Optimus said with a sigh. "Just means Ratchet will be in _such_ a good mood when Wheeljack gets here."

"When will that be?"

"About noon. I was wondering if your team would like to come with us?"

Sing brightened considerably. "Sure! It beats sticking around here doing drills. I know this stuff like the back of my hand." He hesitated. "That is, assuming we can get permission from Bale. Lucky for us, Ember got called away." He made a face, and Optimus chuckled. "If she was here, we would never get to go. Ember's got it out for us."

"And I thought Jones was the paranoid one." Optimus teased lightly. To be honest, he thought Jones would be more of a match for Red Alert than he was for Sideswipe. Prime wasn't going to mention it, and certainly not around Red Alert. The security officer had absolutely no love of organics or anything relating to them, and he certainly wouldn't appreciate the comparison.

Which lead to Prime's real reason why he wanted Anna's team to come with them (aside from wanting Sing's company) – to judge the others reactions to them. There was an idea, half-thought and not discussed with anyone else, but there nonetheless. He knew Sam and Bumblebee had considered it once, but nothing had ever come from it. Optimus knew what he wanted – he was fairly certain the others would want it to – now he just had to make sure it wouldn't interfere with the other Autobots.

Sing rolled his eyes, not completely oblivious to his friend's dilemma. "Jones is just a little spastic. We're all pretty sure a lot of it is an act. Somehow he got tagged in basic as being the paranoid one, so now he has to play the part. It just means O'Connell gets to tease him relentlessly about it." He hesitated. "All right, what's wrong?"

Optimus focused on the man on his shoulder. "What makes you assume something is wrong?" he asked, skirting the question.

Sing gave him a look. "I can tell when something's bothering my friends." he said dryly. "Come on – it's not like I'm gonna go running around telling everyone what's eating you."

It took Optimus a moment to look up the phrase 'eating you'. Humans had such strange sayings. "I'll tell you later." he promised, his optics focusing on Stringer who was running up to them. She wasn't nearly as out of breath as Sing had been when she came to a graceful halt.

"Ratchet says Wheeljack is on his way here!" she said, her eyes wide. "Lennox went with Ironhide to tell Bale we're on our way out. The others are on their way here."

Optimus nodded. He set Sing on the ground and transformed, allowing the soldier to climb up into his cab. It didn't take long for the others to assemble around him. An odd combination – semi truck, two Lamborghinis, a silver Pontiac, rescue Hummer, black Topkick, and the humans they had taken in. He hailed Bumblebee over the radio, this time letting Sing listen in to the conversation. "Bumblebee, Wheeljack is arriving sooner than we thought. Will you be there?"

There was a moment's hesitation. _"Of course. I'll meet you out there."_

/----/

They stood in the middle of the desert, watching the skies. It didn't take long, Lennox thought dryly. After all, from her position standing on Ironhide's shoulder, she could clearly see the four asteroids currently streaking across the sky. She reached out and touched Ironhide's head, drawing his attention to her. "How can you tell they're ours?" she hissed.

Ironhide chuckled darkly. "You don't."

"They're ours." Ratchet assured them. "I can see Wheeljack."

Stringer frowned. "How can you tell? They all look alike."

Jazz laughed. "He's the one who's listing slightly to the left." he said, pointing out the pod of interest. Stringer nodded. She motioned to Ratchet, who automatically picked her up and let her sit in his hand. Optimus smiled to himself. Sing was already in his now-customary perch on Prime's shoulder, and O'Connell, Jones, and the Twins were grouped together and steering clear of Ratchet. Jazz and Epps were staying close to Ironhide and Lennox. Bumblebee was grouped with them. It was odd, seeing him without Sam. Optimus had grown used to having the Witwicky family around.

The pods hit the ground with an earth-shaking impact. Wheeljack's pod narrowly missed Ironhide and Lennox. Ironhide had automatically grabbed Lennox from her precarious perch and cradled her against his chest plates to protect her from the debris. Jazz had done something similar with Epps, and Bumblebee simply laughed.

Ironhide straightened. "Pit-slagging glitch!" he swore. "Why can't you watch where you're landing, Wheeljack?!"

The pod unfolded, revealing the large protoform that was slightly smaller than Optimus. Ratchet walked over to him, placing Stringer on his shoulder as he projected a series of holograms all too fast for the humans to see clearly. Suddenly the protoform changed, assuming the shape of a Lancia Stratos Turbo. He turned his focus to Ironhide as Ratchet moved to the other protoforms.

"Sorry about that, 'Hide." Wheeljack said sheepishly. Ironhide simply shook his head, continuing to mutter about incompetent scientists under his breath. The other three joined them, two of them at least as tall as Wheeljack himself and one significantly shorter. The smaller Autobot looked from Ironhide to the human soldier in Ironhide's hand, and his optics seemed to widen in surprise.

"Is there a particular reason 'Hide's carrying around a human?" he asked dryly.

Sunstreaker shook his head. "Look around, Cliffjumper." he said pointedly. "We're on Earth. It's got humans." Sideswipe took a step forward, but a glare from Optimus stopped them both.

"Cliffjumper, Hound, Bluestreak, Wheeljack." He made the relevant introductions. "These are our human allies."

Lennox took over, standing up straight in Ironhide's hand. "I'm Lennox." she said. "That's Epps with Jazz, Sing with Optimus, Stringer with Ratchet, O'Connell with Sunstreaker –" she broke off, hesitated, and then continued in a mocking tone, "and Jones is hiding behind Sideswipe hoping I won't notice."

"Hey!" Jones stuck his head out from behind Sides and glared up at Lennox. "How do you do that? You didn't even look!"

"You've been on my team how long?" Lennox said dryly.

Epps interrupted. "Guys? Bale is calling us back. Some sort of unplanned meeting going on."

Optimus nodded. Placing their prospective humans on the ground, the Autobots resumed their alt modes and loaded back up. Climbing inside Ironhide, Lennox noticed that Bluestreak had chosen a Nissan 280ZX, Cliffjumper a Porsche 924 Turbo, and Hound a Mitsubishi J59 jeep. "The world is being invaded by alien car buffs." she murmured. Ironhide laughed.

"What? Did you think we'd go for normal, everyday SUVs?" he shot back.

"_Ironhide, Anna has orders to meet with Secretary Keller in DC."_ Optimus said over the radio. Lennox frowned.

"What about you guys?" she asked.

"I'm taking you." Ironhide said immediately.

"_I expected as much. We'll be fine, Anna – all of us. You have my word."_

Lennox nodded. Still, as Ironhide adjusted his course and left the other Autobots behind, she couldn't help the sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Because no matter Prime's reassurances, something had just gone horribly wrong.


	13. Chapter 13

An: Look! More plot! (laughs) Here we go!

**chapter thirteen**

Lennox really didn't like being in DC. For one thing, the place was simply too darn crowded. Without the escort her team was given, traffic was horrible. Even Ironhide had grumbled about it, going so far as to offer to blast their path clear with his plasma cannons. Lennox had laughed outright at that. Right now, though, parked in front of the Pentagon and getting ready to pay a visit to the Secretary of Defense, all humor was gone. That sick feeling was back again, in full force, warning her to take Ironhide and just run while she still could. With a sigh, she reached for the door.

"Anna." Ironhide's voice stopped her. She glanced at the dash. "I don't like this. Something isn't right."

She nodded. "I know. I feel it too." She turned her focus to the building. "Something is going to change now. Keller's gonna start the turn."

Ironhide didn't have to ask what she meant. While Optimus was reluctant to believe it, Ironhide himself had no problems imagining the humans turning against them. The humans, but not Lennox. "And where will you stand," he asked quietly, "when that turn comes?"

Lennox grinned. "Right here, 'Hide." she said. "With you and the rest. Optimus isn't the only one who adopts wayward soldiers." She flashed him a smirk and slid out, closing the door behind her. Ironhide couldn't help but feel a smug sort of satisfaction. It was always rewarding to be proven right, even when there was no doubt. As Lennox walked inside, Ironhide raised Optimus on the radio.

"What's going on over there?"

His leader's response was not reassuring. I'm not sure. Ember and Bale called in the humans before us. Something is wrong though – Sing is angry.

Ironhide couldn't help but snort. "Sing? Angry? Didn't know he had it in him."

Optimus seemed to chuckle at that, but the sound was strained. Neither did I. According to Jazz, it seems that Epps is rather annoyed as well. The others are tense.

"When will you find out what's going on?"

Probably around the same time you do. I believe these two events to be related.

"Swell. That's just slagging great." Ironhide turned his sensors to the building, keeping tabs on Lennox as she was guided into the inner chambers by several Secret Service agents. "Let me know if something happens and I need to get Anna out of here in a hurry."

There was a brief pause, and for a moment Ironhide thought he was going to get a lecture about not harming humans, or at least a warning to not be rash. To his complete and total shock, Optimus' reply was grim and dark.

Affirmative.

/-----/

"You called for me?" Lennox asked, making an effort to keep her voice polite. Three Secret Service agents stayed in the room with her, Keller was staying behind his desk, and off to Keller's right was a small, ugly man she knew was called Galloway. Lennox might as well have been meeting with the President himself.

Keller nodded. "I figured you would have worn your dress uniform, soldier."

Lennox couldn't help the look of disbelief that crossed her face. "There wasn't time. New Autobots just arrived – we were heading back to base when I got the call." She restrained from mentioning just how many had arrived, or that Ironhide had been the one to bring her in. Right now, she wanted him to admit what information he wanted first.

Keller nodded again, considering. It was Galloway who shot off the question first in a clipped tone. "We have a few questions for you regarding the Autobots and their position on the base." He held a file in his hand, and this time Lennox couldn't stop the disgust that curled her lips for a brief second. She hated paper-pushers. They made it so much harder for her to do her job.

"Ask away." she said blandly.

Galloway shot her a look before opening his file and reading off some sort of paper. "In your opinion, have the Autobots been considerate of the humans at the base?"

"Yes."

He exchanged looks with Keller. Keller chose to clarify the question. "We received word that Ironhide confronted Ember and challenged her authority. Do you wish to restate your answer?"

Lennox frowned. Just what were they – oh. That. "I pissed Ember off and she decided to hold a meeting outside in the rain." she said dismissively. "Apparently that's not common practice with the Autobots. I'm sure Ironhide was simply trying to determine the purpose of it. This is the first I've heard of it." Actually, she was fairly sure Ironhide had done no such thing. The Autobots, as a rule, avoided Ember like the plague when they could. If he had gone to anyone about that, it would have been to Bale, who was considerably more tolerant than Ember.

Even if he had, Lennox thought darkly, there wouldn't have been anything left of Ember to tell the tale. "Anything else?" she asked, making sure to keep her voice as flat as possible.

Galloway returned to his list. "Have the Autobots ever threatened a human on base?"

"No." More like they threatened themselves, with the way the Twins kept harassing Ratchet. It was a wonder the medic hadn't reformatted them into toasters.

Once again, there was a brief glance shared between the two. Galloway kept going. "Have they ever proved a threat to the humans on base, intentionally or not?"

"No." Honestly, where was this going?

Keller interrupted Galloway. "Thank you, Lieutenant. You may go now."

Lennox saluted, turned and walked out. As soon as she was gone, Galloway turned on Keller. "What are you doing?" he hissed. "I thought you said she would make the perfect spy!"

"That's what I thought at first." Keller muttered in return. "Look at her. She's got too much of her father in her – she thinks they're allies. She's nothing but a liability to us now." He straightened up. "When we seal them away for good, we'll have to seal them away as well. Every last person on her team."

/----/

Lennox quickly climbed back into the cab of the truck. "Well that was an odd conversation." she murmured, allowing Ironhide to take control as they left the parking lot. "So what's going on at the base? You're awfully quiet."

Ironhide hesitated, unsure. "I have been ordered to not return to the base." he said softly. "The others are being placed under 'house arrest', as Stringer put it, and are no longer permitted to leave the base. Optimus told me to stay away as long as possible. They even brought Bumblebee to the base, although Sam is putting up one pit of a fuss to hear Sideswipe put it." There was a long silence as both soldiers digested that information.

"The Autobots are confined to base, but what about the humans?" Lennox asked finally.

"The humans are still free." It was odd, using that term to apply to the control a group of organics had over massive transforming Autobots, but it was accurate. Optimus would never harm the humans, even if it meant freeing himself from their captivity.

Or would he?

Lennox nodded decisively. "Then let's get back to base." Ironhide started to protest, but she cut him off. "Those are our soldiers in there. I'm not in the habit of letting my men face their enemies on their own." Ironhide considered for a moment before relenting.

"I hope you know what you're doing." he murmured. "I don't want to lose you."

It was as close as the gruff weapons specialist would come to admitting that he felt something for the woman, and he was rewarded with her smile. "You won't." she assured him. "None of us are going anywhere. Let's just hope we can talk some sense into Bale before the Decepticons decide to attack again."


	14. Chapter 14

**chapter fourteen**

Out of all of them, Jazz and Ironhide were probably the calmest at being kept on base. When Ironhide and Lennox had arrived, the black Topkick had been escorted directly to the Autobot hangar, and Lennox had been given strict instructions to avoid unnecessary contact. Ironhide had seen the look that crossed her face when Ember had told her that. Lennox had said nothing, merely glanced back at Ironhide and walked away to find the rest of her team.

Now, five days later, they were all starting to get nervous. They may have been stronger and faster than the humans, but every Autobot was clearly aware of one distinct fact: They were outnumbered.

Optimus shifted on his wheels. They had taken on their alt forms as a way to get the humans who kept walking in the hangar to ignore them. So far, no one from Lennox's team had made it in, and he was getting worried. He was just about to say something to break the silence – find out how his soldiers were holding up, how much longer they could tolerate this – when noises outside the hangar grabbed his attention.

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant, but you can't go in there! Ember's orders!"

"Try and stop us, soldier." Lennox, angry and ready to fight. The unnamed soldier let out a squeak and apparently stepped aside. The human-sized door in the hangar opened, and Lennox walked in, followed quickly by Sing, Stringer, O'Connell, Jones, and Epps. Some of the tension seemed to ease from the room, and the Autobots automatically assumed their mech forms. Ironhide's optics brightened as Lennox made her way to him.

"I was wondering when you'd get around to showing up." he said with a grin. Lennox smiled back.

"Hey, we had to wait until Ember left base to get here." she said. She quickly climbed onto his hand, and Ironhide lifted her up to his shoulder. Optimus smiled to himself as the other humans quickly assumed similar positions.

Cliffjumper glared at them. "What makes you think you can keep us locked up in here?!" he demanded.

Jazz shook his head. "Cliffjumper – "

"I'm allowed to ask!" the smaller mech snapped. "Your leader told us we couldn't leave. What gives her the right?"

"Absolutely nothing." Lennox said. "And she's not our leader."

"Then who is?"

Lennox glanced around at her group. Sing answered for her. "Optimus is. That is, if he doesn't mind a bunch of humans pledging their allegiance to him." He flashed the Autobot leader a grin. Optimus couldn't help but smile back. Jazz snickered, and the Twins exchanged high-fives while Ratchet groaned. Apparently there was a betting pool on that one, Lennox thought with some amusement.

Cliffjumper stared at them. "You might as well be adopting them, Prime." he warned.

"Actually – " Optimus began, but Sunstreaker cut him off.

"Could we?" He sounded for all the world like a child asking to keep a stray dog. O'Connell looked up at him.

"Adopt?" he said slowly. "I know I wouldn't mind."

Epps snorted. "None of us would." he said. "Right, Lennox?"

Lennox grinned. "Dang straight."

"You don't even know what an adoption would entail." Wheeljack warned. "We don't even know for sure what would happen to you. Autobots generally don't spark-bond out of species."

"For good reason." Cliffjumper grumbled.

"Don't mind him." Hound said, shooting the minibot a dark look. "He's just annoyed that there aren't any other minibots for him to cause trouble with. Ironhide intimidates him."

"Gee, I wonder why?" came the dry response from Lennox. Ironhide just laughed.

Optimus turned his focus to the group. "Would anyone mind spark-bonding?" he asked. "It would be different with humans involved, but I believe it can be done?" He glanced over at Wheeljack, who nodded affirmatively.

"Choose carefully." Bumblebee advised, speaking up for the first time. "Once you do this, there's no guarantee that you'll keep your other human relationships."

"Is that why you never bonded with Sam?" Jazz asked suddenly. Bumblebee nodded.

Jones laughed. "I'm in." he said with a grin. "You guys may have scared me at first, but I like you people. Especially Sides." Sides grinned and took a bow. Murmurs of assent rose from the group. Sing turned to Optimus, placing a hand on his head to get his attention.

"Would you spark-bond with me?" he asked quietly.

Optimus nodded. "Of course."

Suddenly the door opened again, and Bale walked in. "You guys better get back in the barracks." he warned. "Ember's coming back." Lennox made a face.

"Any idea when she'll be gone again?" she asked.

Bale nodded. "She leaves tomorrow night and won't be back for another three days, tops."

"Good." She turned to Ironhide. "We'll be back then."

"Be careful." Ironhide said quietly.

Lennox grinned. "Always."

/----/

The barracks were quiet, for the most part. Lennox and Stringer made sure to keep their voices down to avoid waking the others. Lennox's team weren't the only ones who slept in there, after all. "Are you sure you're willing to do this?" Lennox asked. "What about your fiancé?"

Stringer stared at the ceiling in the darkness. "Remember that phone call I got a few days ago?"

"Yeah."

"He wanted me to leave the base. Said I was spending too much time there. He knows about the Autobots, apparently – he thinks they're all dangerous and they're going to kill us all as soon as they get the chance." She let out a frustrated sigh. "I told him he was an idiot. I mean, come on – can you picture Ratchet of all mechs trying to hurt one of us, much less killing us?"

Lennox snorted back a laugh. "If anything, ,the Twins are going to be the ones to die by his hand." she snickered.

Stringer chuckled. "Exactly. Well, he didn't take well to that. Told me to get my priorities straight and call him again when I was ready to lead a normal life." She fell silent for a moment.

Lennox spoke quietly. "You like Ratchet."

"More than I do my own fiancé." Stringer muttered. "Is that not a sad state of affairs or what?"

"How do you like him?"

"As a friend. Maybe a brother. You were the one who taught me that two good friends were worth more than a dozen boyfriends." She flashed the younger soldier a smile, even though Lennox couldn't see it in the dark. "He respects me more than Mark ever did. He doesn't even mind the whole Marine bit."

Lennox had to bite her cheek to keep from laughing. "I would say I'm sorry about Mark, but somehow I don't think you're broken up over it."

"Not really. Isn't that sad? We've been on the fritz for a couple of months now. I guess it was just a matter of time."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"No offence, Lennox, but you aren't the best at relationship advice."

Lennox nodded. "None taken. It's true enough. But I could have listened. You're my friend as much as you're my soldier, Stringer. You can tell me anything."

"I know." Stringer said. "I was talking to Mom about it for a while, and by the time the whole thing fell apart, it just wasn't worth mentioning."

"So long as that's all it was." Lennox said, rolling over to get to sleep. "I'd hate to think you didn't trust me."

"Perish the thought." came the snippy reply. There was a moment of silence, then, "How do you like Ironhide?"

Lennox closed her eyes. "I don't know."


	15. Chapter 15

**chapter fifteen**

Epps and O'Connell took guard the next morning. They watched with distaste as Ember put the others through their paces, being especially harsh to Lennox. It was like being back in basic, but at least there they had the security of knowing there was a purpose to the pain and the drill sergeant wasn't actually going to physically hurt them. Right then, watching as Ember drilled Lennox in the courtyard, Epps wasn't sure that Ember wasn't going to hurt Lennox.

The worst part was, there was nothing he could do. If Epps did step in, Ember would lash out at him as well. And then Lennox would walk all up and down his aft. She fought her own battles.

O'Connell glanced over at the courtyard and grimaced. "I wonder if Ironhide knows what Ember is doing." he muttered. "Talk about an overprotective boyfriend."

Epps snickered. "Don't let Lennox hear you say that." he said with a grin. "She'll have to beat you down."

"It's true!" O'Connell protested with a grin. "The Twins already have a betting pool up about what _kind_ of spark-bond they'll have."

"Against who? Ratchet?"

"No – Hound and Bluestreak. Apparently they aren't as smart about not betting against the Twins." O'Connell shrugged. "But that's beside the point. I'll bet you didn't even know there were different kinds of spark-bonds."

"I am not intelligence officer on this team for nothing." Epps pointed out smugly. "I guess we'll just find out when it happens. Tonight." He kept going to say more, maybe make a returning jab at O'Connell, but sudden noise from the gates drew his attention. He gaped. "Oh, man – look at this." O'Connell looked, and his face paled.

"This ain't good."

Sam Witwicky stood there at the gate, arms crossed over his chest and glaring daggers at the other two guards. "What do you _mean_ I can't see Bee?" he demanded. For an older man who was starting to turn grey, Sam was still a formidable foe when he wanted to be – whenever Bumblebee was involved. "You come to my house, take my friend away, and now you're telling me that I can't even come and visit him?! How is this fair?"

"In case no one has told you, Mr. Witwicky," Ember said, appearing right beside the guards, "life isn't fair. That's the way the world works."

Sam turned the force of his glare on her, and Epps watched with amusement as the smug expression melted from Ember's face. "Don't tell me about the world. What have you done in this job? Worked a desk? Are you good at pushing papers? What do you know of the world – or even the Autobots for that matter? You're holding them against their will. Do you know just how far they're willing to go for us? Do you have any idea what kind of allies they are?"

"Do you know how powerful they are?" Ember shot back. "What kind of enemies they can become? How are we supposed to defend ourselves against them?"

"What makes you think you need to?"

"Sam!" Lennox walked over to the angry man, drawing him aside and whispering something in his ear. There was a brief, quiet argument, before Lennox said something that apparently placated Sam. He nodded sharply and stalked off, getting back in the white compact car that Mikaela had bought them for times when Bumblebee wasn't there. Lennox watched him leave before turning back to Ember.

For a moment, the two simply stared at each other. Ember flashed her a smile. "You're lucky I have preparations to do, soldier. I don't like being interrupted." she warned softly.

Lennox nodded. "Understood, ma'am." Never mind that she hated the woman for everything she was doing to the Autobots. There were so many things she wanted to say, but landing in the brig for insolence would not go over well with the others. She wanted to have some sort of freedom tonight. Because once Ember left, she was going to find Ironhide. The pull was so strong, to be with him whenever she could, that once Cliffjumper had mentioned adoption she knew she would jump at the chance.

To have the excuse to stay with Ironhide, knowing that her soldiers were as much Prime's as they were hers . . .

She shook the thoughts away. Later. There would be enough time later.

/----/

Wheeljack smacked Ratchet in the back of the head. "If you don't stop squirming, I'm gonna blow one of your circuits!" he pointed out sharply. Ratchet stared at him a second before laughter escaped him. Wheeljack gave him a look. "What is wrong with you?"

"First time I've ever heard my own threats directed at me." Ratchet said. Optimus laughed at that. He was as uncomfortable as his fellow soldiers at the moment, as as Ratchet was about to be. Under normal circumstances, spark-bonding did not include increasing the spark intensity of one of the partners. On the other hand, usually spark-bonding involved two individuals that both _had_ sparks. Wheeljack snickered as he finished his work and moved on to Ironhide. Ratchet slid his chest plates closed.

"There's no need, 'Jack." Ironhide said quietly. Wheeljack frowned at him, but Jazz reached out and grabbed his arm.

"Trust him." he said. "There's no need." Slowly, Wheeljack nodded and sat back.

"Then my work here is done." he said with an easy grin. "I just hope they get here quick before you guys overload and shut down on me." Cliffjumper snorted.

"Now that's just what we need." he muttered. Hound slapped him in the back of the head.

"Mute it." he snapped. "The last thing they need is you whining and moaning about it on top of the stress of bonding." Bluestreak snickered. So far the mech had restrained himself around the humans, but Jazz was waiting for him to bust loose and never shut up.

A few seconds later, the human door opened and Lennox's team came in. They were being quieter than normal for whatever reason, and Ironhide noticed with some concern that Lennox was limping. She flashed him a grin, and he relaxed. It wasn't anything to seriously worry about yet. Without a word, each went to their chosen Autobots. Hound wondered what made the humans drift towards certain warriors. Lennox and Ironhide were almost made for each other, but the others weren't nearly as obvious.

Wheeljack took a step forward. "Are you sure?" he asked, for the last time. "Once you do this, there is no going back."

There was no hesitation. "We're sure." Lennox said, and the others nodded, content to let her speak for them. Wheeljack nodded. No sense in stalling now.

"What I want you to do is touch each other." he instructed them. "Let the Autobots do the work – they know what they're doing. Just relax, don't fight it. It may hurt – in all honesty, I don't know. If it does, trust that it won't last long. As for you guys," he turned his attention to the Autobots, "if they show signs of pain, do not stop. You can't afford to stop. Understand?" They all nodded. "Good." Wheeljack stepped back.

Ironhide gently lifted Lennox into his hand, and the others did the same. He smiled. "Are you ready?"

She smiled back. "Beyond ready."

"Good." He opened his chest plates, revealing the blazing glow of his spark chamber. Gently, so very gently, he set her down in the cavity. He was vaguely aware of the others following the same procedure – it had been agreed upon that this would be the most effective means. "Go ahead." he encouraged her. "Touch it. I don't bite." He settled his processor, focusing on the young woman who was currently sitting inside his chest. He sensed her nod before her small hand pressed against his spark chamber.

Searing pain flashed through him, a sure sign that the bond was taking hold, and his chest plates slid shut to secure Lennox inside. The space had originally been designed for carrying anything from extra supplies in battle to incredibly young sparklings for short periods of time, but he found that Lennox fit in the space perfectly. He felt her tense, knew she was feeling the same burning through her chest that he was, but now he couldn't stop the bond energy even if he wanted to.

There was a sudden flash of hurt and relief right before he felt himself slip away into recharge.


	16. Chapter 16

**chapter sixteen**

Optimus was the first to come out of recharge. Wheeljack, Hound, and Bluestreak were leaning over him, running some sort of scan on him. He waited a moment before bringing his optics back online, making sure he wasn't going to fall over if he tried to get back up. His equilibrium was unstable, but not completely disrupted. He moved to stand, but Wheeljack quickly pressed his hand into Prime's shoulder. "Don't get up." he warned. "We're still not sure what happened."

"The bond took." It was the only thing Optimus was aware of at the moment, a comforting yet unfamiliar presence seated deep in his spark. He knew it was Sing, just as he knew the young man was currently seated just above his head where he couldn't quite see him. Sure enough, a small laugh came from that direction as Sing climbed up and sat on Prime's chest plates.

"It took." he said with a slight smile. "Geez, Optimus, you had me scared. I only woke up a few seconds ago, but at first I couldn't feel you or anything, and I thought something went wrong, and –"

Chuckling, Optimus raised a hand and gently placed his finger on the man's back. "I know." he assured him. "Sometimes the effects are not immediately apparent." Sing relaxed, and slowly Optimus lifted himself up enough to look around without dislodging the soldier from his delicate perch. The Twins were just starting to come around, Jones and O'Connell cradled gently in their hands. He wondered briefly how that had worked out. After all, the Twins were essentially the same spark; no one knew exactly how any kind of spark-bond would work for them. Ratchet was still in recharge, but for whatever reason Stringer was on the verge of waking up. Jazz and Epps were stirring.

"Where are Ironhide and Anna?" Optimus demanded, turning his focus to Wheeljack. It was Hound who answered him.

"Over there." he pointed. "Out of your line of sight like this. They're still in recharge though, so we figured it was best not to disturb them."

Optimus nodded. "And Cliffjumper?"

"Pouting." Bluestreak said with a grin. "Apparently Ironhide kept Lennox inside his chest cavity to keep her safe during the bonding but he didn't let her out before he passed out too so Cliffjumper's processor almost locked down and he wanted to pry her out but –"

"Bluestreak." Hound warned. Bluestreak shut up quickly with an embarrassed grin. Sing chuckled. He was glad to see that the shy Autobot was finally starting to open up around them, but he could also see why he didn't speak very much. Hound shot Sing a grin. "We love Bluestreak to death, but once he starts talking, he can't stop very easily."

"Drives us nuts sometimes." Wheeljack added affectionately.

"Kinda like your experiments, right?" Hound pointed out dryly.

"Wait." Optimus got their attention. "Ironhide put Anna inside his chest cavity?"

Wheeljack nodded. "Yes. We're not quite sure why, and I doubt he'd tell us if we asked him." He shrugged. "I'm sorry, Prime."

Optimus shook his head. "No need. I know why." At the others' looks, he elaborated, "Ironhide is a soldier above all else. Even if Anna is a fellow soldier, he's going to want to protect her. If he thought she might be in danger during the bonding, he'd put her where he felt she was the safest. Within him." He felt the sudden flash of understanding pass through Sing, and it was followed quickly by fierce approval. Sing glanced over at Optimus, knowing the Autobot felt the same.

"Looks like O'Connell and Sunny win that bet." he said.

"We do?"

Sing slid to the ground, allowing Optimus to sit up fully. Sunny and Sides were already sitting up now, Jones and O'Connell perched on their respective Autobots' shoulders. Jazz and Epps were quickly following suit, and Ratchet and Stringer were just starting to wake. Sunny tilted his head to the side and considered. "That feels strange." he observed. Sides nodded agreement.

"What does?" Wheeljack asked.

"I can feel O'Connell _and_ Jones _and_ Sunny." Sides said. "If that doesn't blow your processor, I don't know what will." Sunny muttered agreement, while Jones and O'Connell simply exchanged looks. The Autobots had tried to give them some idea of what they'd be getting into, but given the Twins' uniqueness, no one was quite sure what would happen to the two humans who bonded with them. The end result was not unpleasant, but not expected either.

Bumblebee watched them as they acquainted themselves with the bond, and wondered if he and Sam had made the wrong choice. Bumblebee had wanted Sam to have his own life. Sam hadn't wanted to hurt Mikaela. In the end, they both chose Mikaela over each other. Now he wondered if they wouldn't have been happier if they had bonded. Mikaela might have understood, if they had been willing to take the risk.

Suddenly Jazz spoke up. "Where's Lennox and Ironhide? Epps is about to blow a fuse or something worryin' about them." Epps shot him a dirty look, but it lost its sting when Jazz just laughed at him. "What? It's the truth, bro – you ain't hiding that from me." Epps simply rolled his eyes and turned his focus on Ironhide, who was finally starting to wake.

"Anyone know how long we were out?" he asked no one in particular.

"The soldiers have already started their morning routines." Wheeljack informed them. "Bale came in here once last night, but if he thought anything was strange, he didn't comment on it."

"I have the feeling Bale is on our side." Hound said. "But Optimus – a new soldier has shown up. The others call him Grisko."

"He's not new." Ironhide struggled to sit up, and Bumblebee quickly went to help him. There wasn't much the smaller mech could do, but the effort was appreciated. Ironhide flashed him a grateful smile as he finally straightened up before turning his attention back to Hound. "Little glitch is supposed to be in the brig. He attacked Anna." he spat out.

Hound and Bluestreak exchanged looks. "Why let Grisko return then?" Hound murmured.

Bluestreak shrugged. "Beats me I guess he's a valuable soldier or something but then again I don't know how valuable he can be if he keeps hurting other soldiers –"

"Blue, don't make me hurt you." Ironhide grumbled. His voice lacked any real malice, but it was enough to remind the Autobot to be silent. Bluestreak shot Ironhide a grin. The weapons specialist simply shook his head as he turned his attention to his precious cargo. He slid his chest plates open and gently scooped a still-sleeping Anna out into his palm. As the plates closed, Anna slowly began to wake. Ironhide turned his attention to Optimus. "Sorry to worry you, but she wasn't ready to wake up yet." he said quietly. Optimus nodded. As Ironhide returned his focus to Anna, Stringer spoke up.

"Uh, 'Hide – just to let you know, Lennox isn't what you call a graceful riser." she warned him.

Ratchet looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"I went to wake her one day during basic, and she slugged me." Stringer laughed. "It was an accident – she felt really bad about it afterwards – but still, I know better than to wake her now." Ratchet simply chuckled at that. Anna slowly sat up in Ironhide's hand, blinking slightly before coming awake rather abruptly to the _feel_ of Ironhide inside her soul. Eyes wide, she twisted around to stare up at the mech.

It felt so _strange_, knowing exactly what Ironhide was feeling. He was a warm spot inside her chest, too intense to ignore but not enough to hurt. "You know," she said, surprised at how calm her voice sounded when she felt anything but, "knowing what's going to happen and experiencing it are two totally different things."

Wheeljack smiled. "Did I do it justice?"

Anna grinned. "Not even close."

"I'll have to try again."

Optimus hesitated, the mech equivalent of a deep breath. Sing could _feel_ him steeling himself, and he knew bad news was on the way. It was time to announce what the Autobots had realized when they first knew the humans would turn against them.

"We need to leave." Optimus watched as all of them turned their focus on him. "The humans are no longer allies. If we stay on base and the Decepticons attack, we will be in no position to fight them. Jetfire will be here in three weeks with the Ark. Hopefully then we can draw the battle into space and away from Earth."

Bumblebee spoke up. "We will retrieve Sam, correct?"

"The Witwicky family will come with us." Optimus assured him. Anna opened her mouth, but Prime interrupted, "And we will retrieve Will as well. We will not leave the family of our family behind."

"When do we leave?" Cliffjumper asked, his voice dark but resigned. Apparently he was grudgingly deciding to tolerate the new humans after all. Optimus turned his focus to him.

"Tonight."

/----/

AN: Sorry about the lack of action in this chapter, but I wanted to establish some of what the spark-bond was like, and it sort of took over. (grins) Next up – battle scenes, some fluff between Sam and Bumblebee, and as the story progresses, so will information about the spark-bonds. Hang in there, and thanks for the reviews! You guys rock!


	17. Chapter 17

**chapter seventeen**

Galloway stood in the Witwicky living room, watching Sam as the older man reclined in his chair. Sam was entirely too relaxed for this kind of meeting, despite being confronted by a government agent and three Marine soldiers. Grisko was relaxed against the wall, while Amais and Kanya were tense and standing guard on either side of Galloway. Sam simply smiled at them, hands crossed behind his head. "So what can little old me do for the government?" he asked. Once upon a time, he would have been intimidated. Years of living with the Autobots and participating in several minor skirmishes had pretty much beaten some form of self-confidence in him.

"I have a few questions for you regarding your experiences with the Autobots." Galloway said, forcing a pleasant smile. He didn't like Sam. He absolutely hated the fact that when Prime had first started cooperating with the human government, he had insisted on not only a punk teenager but two low-ranked soldiers as liaisons. Like a sixteen-year-old knew anything about the way the government worked. "I understand you are close to the one called Bumblebee?"

"Yes." Sam didn't bother trying to lie. He'd hung around with Jazz long enough to know the first rule of interrogation – never ask questions you don't already know the answers to at first. That way, you could get a feel for how they lied. It worked better than most machines, according to the Autobot saboteur. Galloway nodded.

"You also had extensive contact with the object known as the AllSpark during the battle in Mission City, correct?"

"Yes." Just where was this going?

"Have you observed any changes in yourself as a result of that contact?"

Sam blinked slowly. "No."

Galloway nodded, as if he'd been expecting that answer. "What about your son? I hear he's good with machines."

Sam snorted. "Yeah. Mikaela's also a mechanic and taught him everything he knows. James isn't anything extraordinary. Sorry about that."

From his position on the wall, Grisko snickered. Galloway shot him a venomous look before continuing. "And what about your new arrival? I believe Mikaela is pregnant, right? Six months along and experiencing complications. That can't be easy for you."

Sam tensed. His easy smile melted from his face. "What do you want?"

"Your daughter. When she is born, I want her. I'll give you anything you want in return – I'll even return Bumblebee to you. What do you say?"

It would have been a lie to say that the thought wasn't just slightly tempting, that while the love he held for his unborn daughter screamed at him to take everyone and run, the part that loved Bumblebee more than anything ached at the thought of getting him back. One life for another. Wasn't that the way it always worked?

"No."

The words hurt, but it was well worth the anger and hate that crossed Galloway's face for a brief moment. "Then I'll see you in battle." was the dark promise before Galloway left, Grisko, Amais, and Kanya following him. Relief washed through Sam, followed by fear that was almost paralyzing. Just what was going on? What made the government think that the unborn Witwicky would ever be useful to them?

Slowly, he set the 9 mil he had hidden behind him on the couch. Lucky he hadn't had to fire it. Sam wasn't good with killing people. He was just a schoolteacher, after all, when he wasn't playing alien ambassador.

He stood up and left the house, anger and confusion following him. He needed to get to James and Mikaela, and he had to get all of them to Bumblebee. Before everything went to hell in a hand basket.

/-----/

The next few hours went by in a blur. There really was no time for them to sort out everything. As soon as the decision to leave had been made, the humans had started preparing. Lennox had to force Jones and O'Connell to stay with Sunstreaker and Sideswipe. As much as they had wanted to help, there was just too much interference in their minds because of the bonds. Hard enough to separate her own thoughts from just one Autobot. She couldn't imagine what it would be like to try and sort out the thoughts of not only herself, but another human and two Autobots as well. Soon enough they'd get used to it. Right now, though, Lennox knew they had to stay with their bonded.

She finished with her pack and exited the armory. Fully armed and with enough food to last her at least two weeks, maybe three if she rationed it properly, she felt a bit more comfortable with the situation. Optimus was currently in contact with Jetfire, trying to get the Ark in orbit sooner than anticipated. There was still another two and half weeks of travel time as it was, and with the humans knowing about their alt forms, it was going to be nigh impossible to hide anywhere.

Something tugged at her mind, and she turned slightly. A small smile tugged at her lips. "You aren't supposed to be out here." she said quietly, knowing he would hear her anyway. Ironhide chuckled, kneeling down so he was closer to her level.

"Perhaps not." he said. "But I needed to get out. You were taking too long. The others are already at the hangar." Lennox nodded. For a long moment, neither of them spoke. It was so very strange, Lennox mused, to realize she felt so strongly for someone that wasn't even human. After all of the guys she had shot down – mostly because they didn't approve of the Marine thing – it was surprising to find someone she fit so well with now.

Ironhide reached out and brushed her hair back over her shoulder with one finger. Unknowingly, he let his finger trace across Lennox's cheek, making her blush slightly. He grinned. "Come on. We should get back before Optimus has a meltdown." he said, picking her up and setting her on his shoulder. Massive robots made of metal should not have been able to move quietly, but Ironhide managed it as they made their way across base. Instead of going inside immediately, Ironhide surprised her by hesitating just outside of the door. Lennox twisted around on her perch so she could see his face. From this distance, she could see the gears and metal parts that made up Ironhide's expressions. This time she reached out, lightly tracing her fingers across the metal. Ironhide held very, very still.

She was so slagging _fragile_, and instinct screamed at him to protect her, but he knew she was strong. He knew she could take care of herself. She smiled at him and pulled her hand away. "Let's get inside." she said softly. Ironhide agreed as they went indoors, and he gently set her on the ground. He joined Jazz on the other side of the hangar as Lennox brought her bag to the other humans and started to run over their list of supplies. Not surprisingly, Ratchet was already running scans on them, making sure the bonds were having no adverse affects on any of them, especially the young woman he had taken in as his little sister.

Even as he spoke with Jazz, Bumblebee, and Hound, Ironhide could feel Lennox through the bond. And he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt what the others could only guess at.

Anna loved him, just as he loved her. Just another complication, but this time he couldn't say he minded.

Ratchet's voice rang out, solemn and with an edge that none had heard in a very long time, breaking through the thoughts and confusion of the Autobots.

"Optimus, there's something you should see."


	18. Chapter 18

**chapter eighteen**

"What is it?" Optimus demanded, walking over to stand behind Ratchet. Immediately all the Autobots were on alert, watching Prime and Ratchet with a mix of curiosity and dread. Stringer, who had been standing by Epps helping him pack, immediately came to stand beside Ratchet. She could feel the medic's distress and confusion through the sparkbond. She placed her hand on his leg (about as high as she could reach), trying to get his attention. Automatically, Ratchet reached down and placed his hand against her back in acknowledgement.

"I – I'm not sure." Ratchet admitted. "Look at these readouts. Tell me what you see."

Optimus did so. Then he had to reset his optics to make sure he had seen things clearly. "Are you sure?"

"I ran the scans twice." Ratchet confirmed grimly.

Hound and Bluestreak exchanged worried looks. Cliffjumper just watched everything with a grim sort of amusement. Bumblebee's gaze switched from Optimus to Lennox, who was watching him intently. He could see the anger starting to build in her eyes the longer Prime and Ratchet stayed silent. Bumblebee didn't have to be bonded to the woman to know what was coming. After all, the only thing that could disturb both the Hatchet and Prime to that extent was an issue with the spark bonds, and that affected her soldiers. Mentally, he started counting down.

"Optimus." Lennox said, perhaps a bit too calmly. "What's going on?"

Optimus heard her, but he didn't respond. There were too many thoughts racing through his processor, puzzle pieces clicking into place now that this small piece of information had been uncovered. "We have to go now." he said, and to his own surprise his voice sounded calm and in control. "There's no more time. Bumblebee, find the Witwickys, then follow my signal. Stay hidden as much as you can." Bumblebee nodded, transformed, and shot off, not needing any more encouragement. Optimus turned to Ironhide, but he didn't get a word out before Lennox exploded.

"Prime! _What's happening to our soldiers?"_

For a brief moment, everything froze. Optimus stared at Lennox. Fire burned in her eyes, and already he could see what Ratchet's scans had predicted. Lennox had always had light-colored eyes, but now they had a different quality to them. Almost electronic.

"I'll explain later." he assured her. "Trust me when I say – it's nothing life-threatening." Lennox glared at him a moment longer before finally nodding assent. Prime returned his focus to Ironhide. "Take her and get Will. Then follow my signal." Ironhide nodded. Optimus turned to the others. "Jazz, Epps – get Robert. Sunstreaker, Sideswipe, O'Connell, Jones – your goal is to retrieve Maggie and Glenn. Hound, locate Mirage and have him set up a safe zone. He should already be on-planet. Cliffjumper, Bluestreak, stay with us."

"Us?" Cliffjumper could not resist.

Optimus didn't take the bait. "Myself and Sing." He looked around the hangar. "Roll out!" With that everyone transformed into their respective alt modes. Lennox and Ironhide were the first to leave, followed quickly by Jazz and Epps, then the Twins, and followed in the rear by Optimus and the others.

Lennox twisted around in her seat, watching as her team followed them. Ironhide grunted as they slammed through the gates, but the time for subtlety had passed long ago. Now was the time for action. "I hope Prime tells us what's going on soon." she muttered, turning back around and settling down in the seat. "Life-threatening or not, the mystery is going to drive me nuts!"

Ironhide laughed, however briefly. He had started running his own medical scans on Lennox as soon as Ratchet had sounded alarmed. While he didn't know exactly what was happening, he knew something was changing. "I'm sure he will." he assured her. "By the way, did you tell Will about this?"

"Which part? Us bonding or our pledging allegiance to Optimus?"

"I'll take that as a no."

/-----/

Bumblebee skid to a halt in front of the hospital, his spark racing in fear as he realized just how late it was. What was Sam doing here at this time of the night? Was Mikaela all right? Was James? He tried to scan through the building in a struggle to find his family, but to no avail. He settled on blaring the horn as loud as he could. Several people close by jumped and cursed, but Bumblebee really could have cared less at that point. _Where were they?!_

"Bee!"

Sam opened the passenger door and helped Mikaela inside. Instantly Bumblebee could tell something was wrong. Her face was pained, and Sam looked oddly grim. Bumblebee opened the driver's door and flipped the seat forward so James could get in. As soon as Sam was safely in the driver's seat where he belonged, Bumblebee peeled out of the parking lot. He didn't slow down or speak until they were a few miles away. "What's wrong?" he demanded.

"It's nothing, Bee." Mikaela was quick to assure him. "Just false labor pains. I'll be fine." Bumblebee couldn't exactly frown in alt mode, but he did turn most of his medical scanners on her. They weren't as sophisticated as Ratchet's were, but they would be sufficient to alert him to any changes in her status. James leaned forward between the seats.

"What's going on?" he asked, sounding perfectly calm despite the situation. "Dad had to have run all the way to the hospital, but he wouldn't tell us what was going on. Just said we had to leave."

"I wanted to wait until Bumblebee found us before I explained." Sam said. Turning his focus to the car (and letting Bee drive) he added, "Galloway was at the house, along with a couple of soldiers I didn't recognize. They aren't part of Lennox's team."

"_Galloway?"_ Bee hissed. "What did he want?"

Sam hesitated. "Rachel." he admitted, referring to his unborn daughter. "He wanted Rachel."

James's eyes narrowed dangerously. "No freaking way." he snapped. "He's not getting my baby sister. I'll let _Starscream_ have her before Galloway even _touches_ her." There was darkness in his voice, and Bee felt a surge of satisfaction. James may not have said much around the other Autobots, but he was fiercely loyal to Bumblebee and his family. Mikaela's eyes were wide with shock.

"Why?"

Once again, Sam hesitated. "He thinks she's the AllSpark."

Bumblebee faltered, but just for a moment. He ran a different type of scan on Mikaela. "Sam – it could very well be true." he said quietly.

James blinked. "Hey. Doesn't that mean your race isn't gonna die?" Bumblebee uttered confirmation, and James grinned. "Cool. That means that Galloway _really_ can't have her."

"How do you know?" Mikaela whispered.

"The AllSpark created us." Bumblebee explained. "We can all sense it, to some degree or another. Optimus would be able to tell you for certain. It could be residual – after all, Sam and James carry some of the AllSpark's essence."

Mikaela took a deep breath. "Now I guess we go meet the others." she murmured, but there was no malice or frustration in her voice. "Man, and I thought we were _done_ with the alien war thing!"

/----/

Robert Epps, Mike's father, was getting along in years. He had been given an honorable, medical discharge when a land mine in the Middle East blew his left leg off at the knee. It was about that time that Will retired as well. To Epps's surprise, his father was waiting for them outside of his apartment. Despite the advancements of prosthesis, Robert still walked with a limp. He smiled as Jazz slowed to a stop just in front of him and opened the passenger door. "Hey, Jazz-man. 'Sup?"

Jazz chuckled. "Not much." he greeted. "Or at least, not yet. You need to come with us." Robert shrugged and climbed inside. Epps grinned at him.

"Man, I did not expect you to be waiting on us." he teased. Robert grinned back. Jazz was struck by just how much Epps resembled his father, especially when they smiled.

As the bantering continued, though, Jazz noticed something that hadn't been there before. Something not quite right. Mike Epps's dark brown eyes were changing. Streaked with blue.

Kind of like optics.

/-----/

It was time, Starscream knew.

The humans had turned against their Autobot allies. He had known it would happen. If anything, he had tried to warn Prime about it. Stubborn Autobot hadn't listened, and now look where he was. On the run, with the small handful of humans that had remained loyal despite everything.

In all honesty, Starscream hadn't anticipated on the humans he had used as bait to become so important to the Autobots. If anything, he figured they would have gone their separate ways and never heard from each other again. That was usually the way things worked, right?

It no longer mattered. He had the forces he needed to blow the Autobots and their human allies away for good. This time, there would be no mistakes, like what had transpired with Megatron and that insect boy. This time it would be done properly.

No mistakes.

/---/

AN: Whew! Another chapter down and out. Hey, you guys have been saying the chapters are short – just to let you know, this particular chapter is over 1500 words long. If this is still short, just give me a general word count to aim for, and I'll do my best to reach it next chapter. Thank you so much for the reviews! You guys rock!


	19. Chapter 19

**chapter nineteen**

Silence reigned among the Autobots as they shot down the highway. For once, Optimus found himself grateful for his chosen alt mode. Semis were less likely to be pulled over for speeding so long as he wasn't too much over the limit, and there was no way he was going sixty. He kept scanning ahead, searching for the blip on his radar that would indicate Mirage's presence. He knew the Autobot warrior would be cloaked. Mirage really had no love of any planet other than Cybertron, so very unlike the other spies that worked for Optimus. Bumblebee and Jazz had taken to Earth quickly – especially Bumblebee. At first, Optimus hadn't quite understood what the young spy had found so fascinating about the stuttering human teenager called Sam.

Now he thought he understood.

He hadn't realized Sing was picking up on his meandering thoughts until the soldier said, quite offhandedly, "I'm not a stuttering teenager, you know."

Optimus couldn't help but laugh. "I'm very well aware of it." he teased. Sing chuckled, but it was short-lived. Optimus hesitated, but continued to speak. "Mirage is one of my best spies. He will come through for us."

Sing grinned. "I'm not surprised. I'm kinda curious about these other guys though – Maggie and Glenn. Who are they?"

Optimus couldn't exactly smile in alt mode, but Sing could feel his mirth anyway. "I believe the human term is hackers. Maggie is a signal analyst. She's worked for the NSA for the past twenty-five years, while Glenn has, ah, _backed_ her."

Sing chuckled at that. "Are they an item?"

"Pardon?"

"Together. Dating. Or even married, but somehow I doubt that." Sing shrugged. "Glenn doesn't strike me as the type to settle down and have a family."

"He's not." Optimus agreed. "I believe the term you would use is dating." He hesitated, unsure. "You have strange ways of identifying relationships."

Sing laughed, understanding the implied question. "I always thought so. Dating is like courting – you find someone you like, you go out places together, get to know each other. Decide if you want to spend the rest of your life with them. If you do, then the guy usually asks the girl to marry him. If she says yes, then they're engaged. When they finally hold the wedding, then they're husband and wife, and completely off-limits to anyone else." He shrugged. "We've got I-don't-know-how-many odd names for it. You'd have to do a search to see them all, and I'm not sure if that would be –" He cut himself off, and Optimus felt the alarm wash through him. "What the pit was that?!"

Prime checked his sensors and almost laughed. "That would be Mirage."

"I can't see him, but I know he's there." Sing shivered a little. "That is really creepy."

Optimus opened the comm. links with Mirage. _"Have you set up a place?"_ he asked. Sing leaned forward a little, listening in. Mirage sent affirmative.

"_There is a locale thirty miles west of our present location."_ Mirage informed him. _"Prime, my sensors detect the presence of humans with you and Ratchet."_

Optimus sighed. This was not a conversation he wanted to get into now. _"I'll explain when we're all safe."_ he assured his soldier. Mirage once again sent affirmative. _"Guide us out to this location. The sooner we get underground, the better."_ Mirage transmitted the Cybertronian equivalent of 'follow me', and shut down the comm. link. Sing frowned.

"Somehow, I get the feeling that was rather rude." he said.

"It was." Optimus said calmly. "Mirage is a little like Cliffjumper, just not nearly as impulsive. He doesn't care much for _inferior races_." Sing made a face, but he didn't get the chance to comment. A black GMC Topkick came flying around them, narrowly missing where an invisible Mirage was leading them to the nearest exit , followed quickly by a police cruiser with flashing lights and a wailing siren. Optimus was about to contact Ironhide and demand just how he managed to get caught by the humans already when the unthinkable happened.

The back window slid open. Anna stuck her head out, bringing her M40A3 to bear on the police cruiser. Instead of aiming for the driver's side of the windshield, like she should have been to take out a human driver, she took aim at the grille on the front of the car. She was aiming for the engine. She fired off a round and shot off the grille. The police cruiser swerved a little before lining up and ramming Ironhide from behind. Optimus' engine growled, but a comm. link from Sideswipe stopped him.

"_Let them alone! Sunny and I are coming from the south, and Jazz is coming in from the east. Show us where we need to go, Prime. Let the trigger-happies deal with Barricade."_

Sing gripped the seat tightly. "That's my commander, Optimus."

"And my bodyguard." Optimus reminded him gently. He turned down the exit with Mirage, the others following his lead. He heard a few more shots from the highway, and Sing flinched. "It's all right. They'll be with us soon enough. Sing!" His sharp voice got the soldier's attention. "They're buying us the time we need to get away."

"I know." He reached out and touched the dash briefly. "I'm sorry."

"_Bumblebee reporting!"_ The frantic comm. link came to all of them. Optimus considered reminding them that they were supposed to be maintaining radio silence, but the fear in the yellow spy's voice had him paying close attention. _"Ratchet, Stringer, we need help!"_

"_What's going on, Bee?"_ Stringer's voice, calm as ever. No wonder why she was the medic.

"_Mikaela's gone into labor. Stringer, I don't know what to do!"_

There was a brief pause. _"How far along is she?"_

"_Six months."_

Now there was several curses before Stringer spoke again. _"Not good, not good at all. Ratchet, I think you're about to get a crash-course in modern natal care."_

"_Oh joy."_ came the sarcastic response. Optimus wished he could roll his optics.

Mirage finally turned off the main road and parked inside an underground chamber. "It's not much, but it will do for now." he announced. Optimus pulled in behind him, followed quickly by Ratchet, Hound, Cliffjumper, Wheeljack, and Bumblebee. In a flash, Stringer was out of Ratchet and over to Bumblebee, helping Sam get Mikaela out of the passenger's seat. James was quickly out as well. An anxious Bumblebee quickly ran a scan on the place, then ran through a list of curses he had picked up from Ironhide when he realized there was no room to transform. He wanted _so badly_ to be able to touch Sam, to comfort him as he watched his human family in distress.

Stringer glanced around. The place had obviously been chosen with Autobots in mind. It was the underground level of a parking garage – out of the way of human satellites and prying eyes. Unfortunately, there was nothing to let a woman in labor lay against, much less anything to help with the actual delivery. She didn't say anything to Mirage about that. "Ratchet, you wouldn't mind-"

"Not at all." He opened the back doors, and Sam and Stringer got Mikaela laying on her back in the open space in the back of the rescue Hummer. Mikaela was panting by now, her eyes squeezed closed. Sam quickly got in behind her, resting Mikaela's head in his lap. Stringer immediately turned to Sing, who nodded.

"Water, towels, anything else I can scrounge up." he listed off.

Stringer grinned. "And scissors, please." At Sing's blank look, she added, "For cutting the umbilical cord." Sing nodded and turned away, muttering something Stringer couldn't quite catch. She couldn't help but laugh at him.

"All right. Now, Mikaela, I want you to take deep breaths and focus on me."

/----/

Lennox cursed as Barricade once again avoided her bullets. Then that curse turned into a yelp of surprise as what looked suspiciously like a laser beam shot out from under the front bumper. "What the pit? I thought he was trying to keep a low profile!" she shouted, ducking back down inside the cab of the truck. Will twisted around, trying to see out the back window. His eyes were dark with anger. He hated being at the mercy of someone else's gun, even if that gun did belong to his daughter. He knew Ironhide had to feel the same.

But if the weapons specialist was worried at all about the situation, he didn't show it. "Anna, you really need to calm down." he said quietly. "You're not thinking clearly." Lennox shot the dash a look, and that's when Will saw it. It was the first time he had gotten a clear view of his daughter's face since she and Ironhide had retrieved him from the ranch. It wasn't the dark emotions that flickered across her face that disturbed him, even though he recognized them. It was the color of her eyes.

For some reason, her human blue eyes had _changed_. They were brighter now, more intense. Colored more like optics than eyes. He reached out and grabbed her shoulder, studying her intently. "What happened?"

Lennox tried to shove him off. "Dad, this isn't the time – "

"_What happened?"_

Lennox snapped. "Which part? Where our own government betrayed us, where we pledged allegiance to Optimus, or the fact that Ironhide and I are bonded? Take your pick – I don't have time to explain!"

At that moment, Ironhide spoke up. "Barricade is retreating and the Twins and Jazz have made it safely to the shelter." he announced. "We can return now." Will looked between Ironhide and Lennox, who was now finally starting to calm down. His eyes were wide.

"You mean to tell me," he said incredulously, "that you _spark bonded_ with an Autobot? I didn't think that was possible."

"It is." Lennox said quietly. "It just works a bit differently since I'm human."

"Anna and I are bondmates now." Ironhide said, his voice even quieter than before when he was calming Lennox. "Is that a problem, Will?"

He was seeking approval, Will knew. After all, they had been friends for most of Ironhide's stay on Earth. They respected each other's opinions, even if those opinions didn't exactly change the facts. Will sighed and released Lennox's arm.

"It's fine, 'Hide." he said, never taking his gaze from Lennox. "Trust me, she couldn't have done much better. Just give me a bit to wrap my mind around this. Most fathers have some sort of warning before their daughters up and marry on them."

Lennox smiled, and it was a true smile. "Thanks, Dad."

/----/

AN: Next chapter – conflict, declarations, and a new arrival! Review, please!

Oh, I was going to put in the actual birth, but considering that I know nothing about it (and don't ever plan on it), I decided to cut to the battle scene. Sorry!


	20. Chapter 20

**chapter twenty**

Galloway stood calmly in front of the Secretary of Defense, shoulders pulled back and chin held high. Behind him stood Grisko, Amais, and Kanya, at attention with their hands close to their weapons. Such a display of force might have intimidated the Secretary, if that SecDef hadn't been Keller. Keller, after having dealt with giant alien robots that wanted to wipe out all of humanity, really didn't find a couple of soldiers all that intimidating. At least, not Grisko and his band.

The soldiers that truly unnerved him were the ones that were currently AWOL, and that included a few civilians who he knew could fight.

"You mean to tell me," Keller bit out, "that you let the Autobots _escape_ from the base? The entire point of that base was to keep the Autobots out of our hair when we needed them gone! Do you have any idea how hard it's going to be to take them down now?" He wanted to hit the calm man in front of him, but he didn't dare. Grisko may not have intimidated him, but Keller wasn't stupid, either. Even if Grisko and Amais didn't do anything, Kanya would kill him. He could see it in her eyes.

"Not only are the Autobots gone, sir," Galloway said serenely, "but their human allies as well."

"I'm aware of that!"

"Are you also aware that Lennox's team willingly defected to the Autobots' side?" Galloway asked, a slight edge in his voice that Keller wasn't completely sure he heard. "Ember told me she overheard Bale talking to Prime about _spark bonds._ Do you know what a spark bond does?"

Keller blinked slowly. There was no point in denying the truth. "I don't even know what a spark bond is."

"Neither did Bale, apparently. Spark bonds bring together two compatible Autobots and seal them together by their sparks – their _souls_, Keller. Apparently, an Autobot can do something similar with another species – say a human." A small smile appeared on his face. "Some of them refer to it as adopting."

Keller took a few seconds to process that. The closest he could come to in human terms was – "That's repulsive!" he said, recoiling at the thought. "Tell me you didn't allow this!"

"We did." Galloway said calmly. "See, we have a theory, and if we're right, the Autobots just gave us the means to kill them off once and for all." And with the Autobots gone, the Decepticons would leave Earth in peace. Or so was the theory. Keller wasn't _quite_ convinced of that fact, but Galloway was, and in the President's eyes, that's all that mattered. So Keller kept his mouth shut for now. He did agree with them on one point – the Autobots were entirely too powerful to allow them to remain completely independent of the American government.

"So when is this potential weakness being exploited?" he asked.

Galloway smiled. "Right now."

/-----/

Mirage watched from his Formula-1 alt form as the humans gathered around their chosen Autobots. Something wasn't quite right, he knew. Optimus was acting strange, but with everyone in their various terrestrial alt modes there really was no way to find out for sure, or just how strange Prime was being. Mirage decided to keep his mouth shut for the moment and listen in. Sooner or later, the issue would come up. Surely someone else would recognize it.

Lennox climbed from the cab, her weapon slung over one shoulder as she surveyed the group. After a brief head count, she asked, "Where's Stringer?"

"With me." Ratchet replied calmly. Lennox nodded and flashed a 'just checking' smile at the medic. It wasn't entirely convincing. He had sensed that slight moment of panic when Lennox couldn't see Stringer, but he let it slide for now. They had bigger things to worry about. He turned his focus to the human woman now bonded to him. "Mikaela's vitals are now back within normal limits."

"Ah, that's good. And now all we need is the kid to cry." There was a slight tone of stress in her voice. Lennox took in Sam and James, both looking rather strained themselves. She turned her focus to Stringer.

"Just what happened?"

"Mikaela went into labor." It was Maggie who answered the question. By now Maggie's hair was starting to show a little grey, but the woman was just as vibrant and carefree as she had always been. Beside her stood Glenn, nowhere near as stressed now as he was when he was at the base. Probably because right now, the Autobots were safely tucked away in car forms and easily dismissed as being normal. Maggie looked a little worried. At Lennox's look, she elaborated, "The kid's three months early. My cousin was a premie, and even though she's perfectly healthy now, she still had problems right after she was born. We're worried about the kid."

Lennox nodded. "So what's the diagnosis, Ratch?"

Ratchet grunted at the nickname. "She seems to be perfectly healthy. She just won't cry."

"I'll feel better when she does." Stringer muttered under her breath.

Ratchet ignored that one for a moment. "Stringer, take her and have Optimus scan her."

The Autobot leader seemed to jerk in surprise. "Why?"

"Just do it."

Optimus knew better than to argue when Ratchet used that tone. Stringer crawled out of the back of the Hummer, a small bundle in her hand. All Optimus could really see of the infant girl was a tuft of dark brown hair and vibrant, electric blue eyes that seemed to glow. Like optics, Optimus realized with a sinking feeling. Quickly, he scanned the girl. Then he scanned her again, more slowly. The result came back the same. "Primus." he murmured.

Sam turned his focus from Mikaela to Optimus. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing is wrong." Optimus said, still sounding slightly stunned. "She is a perfectly healthy child."

"Then what's wrong?"

"She –" Optimus hesitated. Somehow, he doubted Sam would take badly to the news he was about to deliver. "Sam, she's the AllSpark."

Sam sighed. "Bumblebee figured as much." he admitted. "We wanted you to make sure. But – Optimus, Galloway knows too. Or at least, he suspects. He wanted Rachel once she was born." He cut himself off. He really didn't want to admit what Galloway had offered him in exchange for his daughter. He definitely didn't want to admit that he had been tempted. He wasn't sure how Bumblebee would react.

His eyes flickered over to the yellow Camaro, and Lennox nodded. "Sam." He looked up at her. "Galloway isn't taking Rachel, or Bumblebee. He's not taking anyone. I promise you that." There was a dark note in her voice that had Sing, Epps, and O'Connell watching her suddenly. They knew that tone, but no one said anything. That was a discussion for another time and place. Cliffjumper interrupted.

"Wait a minute. You mean to tell me that the entire hope of our race is in that fleshling?" he demanded. "That's ridiculous. Optimus, the scans must be wrong!"

"Optimus doesn't make mistakes like that." Mirage said calmly, speaking up for the first time. "There must be more to these humans than we first thought."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." Sing said sarcastically.

"Their humans!" Cliffjumper exploded. "What do they have to do with us? Why do we have to protect them when they aren't even _like us?!_ If anything, we should be hunting them down for what they did to Bumblebee! Not adopting them like animals!_"_

Before anyone could stop her, Lennox walked over and stood in front of Cliffjumper. In his alt form, the mech soldier wasn't nearly as impressive as he could have been. Ironhide's engine revved, but she ignored him for the moment. Hopefully Optimus wouldn't be too terribly pissed with what she was about to do.

"You think we're worthless?" she said quietly. Her eyes burned in anger. "Need I remind you that it was a _human kid_ who killed Megatron? But that's not really the problem, is it? You don't hate us because we're worthless. You hate us because we _aren't like you._ We don't look like you, don't think like you, and so we _scare the crap_ out of you. You're the only one who seems to think like this so far. That's actually a credit to your species. Wanna know how many humans hate what we don't understand?" She didn't wait for an answer. "Every freaking one of us, save a small handful."

"You think I care?" Cliffjumper hissed.

Lennox grinned humorlessly. "Do some research. Surely you know how to surf the web. Look up what humans put each other through simply because we're _different._ To be perfectly honest, I'm more terrified of what the government is going to do to us when they catch us – what they will do to Rachel most of all – than anything that you might think of. Humans are mean, cruel, and downright ugly when we have to be."

There was a long moment of silence. Cliffjumper seemed to be seeking aid from the other Autobots, but they weren't too keen on giving it. He finally spoke. "Is that information or a threat?"

"Information. The threat is this – if civilians can be that cruel because of an imagined threat, just think of what a handful of trained soldiers can do when one of their own is threatened." Lennox turned away from the small Autobot, bitterness twisting her stomach. She really didn't want to have to do that. She wanted to get along with all of Prime's soldiers and keep life reasonably stress-free. But she would not have anyone threaten her soldiers like that.

She made it back to Ironhide and climbed into the bed of the truck, casting an apologetic look at Optimus. "What can I say?" she murmured. "I'm a protective little glitch."

At that, Optimus chuckled. "I understand. But we'll talk about that later." he said gently. "Right now, we need a plan of action."

/---/

AN: Hopefully I didn't get Cliffjumper's personality too off. I haven't seen much of the G1 cartoons, but he strikes me as the type to shoot his mouth off without actually thinking about it first.

Next up – tension, an explanation for Lennox's paranoia, and actual battle! This story has a life of its own! It was only supposed to be ten chapters!


	21. Chapter 21

**EDIT: This chapter has been edited for stupid mistakes. (growls) Please reread this so the rest of the story makes sense.**

**chapter twenty-one**

Bumblebee idled quietly in his spot in the parking garage while the other humans and the Autobots made arrangements. The Witwickies were asleep in his cab, just where he wanted them. Safe and secure. Even little Rachel was asleep in her mother's arms, and Bumblebee couldn't help the warmth that flooded his spark at that thought. The AllSpark wasn't lost, after all. Just changed. He wondered how that would affect her future, then decided that, for tonight, it didn't matter. There were more pressing things to worry about. He tuned in on the other muted conversations around him.

"We need to change clothes as soon as we get the chance." Epps was saying, leaning against Jazz's hood. "Military fatigues are going to be a dead giveaway as soon as we get out of here."

Lennox nodded. "That will be second on the list. First thing is to get our weapons clean. We're going to have to fight sooner or later, and I'd rather not do it with gunked-up weapons. That's embarrassing." Ironhide chuckled at that. Lennox flashed him a smirk and continued. "I'll take weapons duty. Stringer, can you and Epps get on the clothes? I'm not sure if we actually brought any civilian clothes with us or just a spare change of fatigues."

"Oh, we brought civilian." Stringer said. "Amazing what you can grab when you're basically running on autopilot. But yeah, we'll get everything straightened out."

Lennox nodded and turned to Jones. "Keep an eye on the outside. I want to know if anyone tries sneaking up on us. When Epps gets changed, he'll take your place so you can change as well." Jones nodded and slipped away, rifle in hand. Stringer and Epps were already digging out their bags, passing the weapons and cleaning supplies to Lennox and separating the clothes for themselves. She turned to the Autobots. "Now we need to do something about you guys."

"I guess a collection of sports cars would be rather obvious." Jazz murmured.

"Actually, Optimus is going to be the only problem." Glenn said suddenly. "Him and Mirage. I mean, Prime has a custom paint job and no one drives Formula-1 race cars just for the sake of it."

"I can cloak myself." Mirage said thoughtfully. "I can extend the same protection to Prime as well, if I need to."

"It would be for the best." Optimus said slowly. "Sing, you should probably stay with one of the others."

Sing jerked in surprise. His shock and refusal translated clearly through the spark-bond, and he could feel Prime's calm reassurance as clearly as Prime could feel his panic. "It really wouldn't do for you to mysteriously appear from an invisible vehicle." he said quietly. Sing glared at him for a few minutes, still clearly reluctant. "I will follow you. You know I will."

He sighed. "Yeah, I know."

"Uh, Sing?" Epps said suddenly. "Since when did you have blue eyes?"

Suddenly everyone fell silent. Lennox turned her focus to Optimus and Ratchet who were parked side-by-side, a weapon held absently in her hand. "That's what Ratchet realized." she murmured, and to Prime's relief she didn't sound angry. "The spark-bonds are changing us."

"Yes." Prime said softly.

"How much?"

"Not enough to change your human shape." Ratchet answered for him. "Right now, the only obvious physiological difference is your eye color. Other changes may occur, but we can't really be sure. Now, though, your scans no longer show you as human. They register you as one of us."

"Isn't that what we are?" Sing pointed out.

"Yep." Stringer agreed from the pile of clothes. She was already getting changed. "That's what we are."

"We didn't want to alarm you when we had more pressing problems to deal with." Optimus said, drawing the conversation back to himself. "So far, there are no scans that indicate you will have physical changes, good or bad. We will let you know if that changes. I promise you that."

Lennox nodded slowly. "I'm holding you to that, Prime."

"You can."

"Okay, so once we get changed and weapons cleaned, where are we going to go?" Sing asked. "Something as big as the Ark is going to draw attention, not to mention there's only so many places on Earth it can land."

"It's not going to land." Wheeljack said. "Jetfire is going to keep it in orbit. We'll meet it there."

"How?" O'Connell asked. "In case you haven't noticed, humans don't do well in no oxygen, no heat areas like space."

"No. We will put you in our chest cavities." Sunstreaker said. "That way, you'll be protected. They're designed to carry anything and everything that is precious or easily broken."

"Somehow, I don't think you guys make anything that's easily broken." Jones muttered.

Hound shrugged. "Wheeljack's inventions."

"Hey!"

"There is one thing I would like to know before we get moving, while we still have time." Ratchet said suddenly. "What has Lieutenant Lennox so protective of her soldiers, especially Stringer?"

For a long moment, there was silence. Epps was the one who spoke first. "We were sent on a special ops mission in Russia." he said slowly. "Things went from bad to worse in a hurry. Lennox had to make a call – either some of us got out, or none of us. She made the right one."

Lennox refused to look at anyone. "It cost us."

"Not quite." Stringer said cheerfully. She glanced at Ratchet, bracing herself for what she knew was coming. "I got shot on the way out. Technically I died for about a minute before the medics were able to bring me back. Lennox was there when I 'died', but one of the higher-ups forced her away. She never got word that I was all right. She found out once we all got back stateside."

"Lennox took it hard." Jones said quietly.

Shock rippled through the Autobots, but it was Jazz who spoke. "Looks like I'm not the only one who's seen the other side." he quipped. "You know the Hatchet ain't gonna let you out of his sight now."

"Can't be any worse than what Lennox did when I first got out of the hospital." Stringer said with a laugh.

"Which was?" Ratchet asked, his voice reasonably calm.

"I followed her around like a bloodhound." Lennox said without shame. She flashed a smirk. "I don't think I quite believed she was really alive."

"I'll believe it."

"Enough of that." Ironhide said, drawing the conversation away to safer waters. There would be plenty of time later to deal with Lennox. After all, she wasn't the only Autobot with a hero complex. "Once everything is ready, we're going to need a more defensible position to hole up in until Jetfire gets here."

And once again everyone was focused. For the moment.

/----/

AN: I know I promised action, and I'm sorry! You'll get it next chapter, scout's honor. Thing is, I hurt my leg in karate about three weeks ago now, and I just had surgery done on it yesterday, so I'm not in the best of moods. That and this chapter hates me. It really does. So please just take it as it is, and hopefully this will be the last crappy chapter. It's about the only chapter that I'm not happy with so far.


	22. Chapter 22

**chapter twenty-two**

They settled in for the night. Ironhide was glad that, for once, Will was sleeping in the bed of the Topkick while Lennox stayed in the cab where they could talk. Their link was _strong_ – so very strong, and Ironhide could feel her pain as clearly as if it were his own. She was sitting still in the reclined seat, pretending to recharge when Ironhide knew her mind was racing, reliving memories she wouldn't allow herself to forget. Finally, he couldn't stay silent any longer.

"Do you always remember right before sleep?"

She shifted slightly. "Not always." she said quietly. "For a while, I tried to forget. Now I just let it come and go as it pleases. It never lasts long, and everyone knows better than to bring it up."

Hesitation. "They don't blame you."

"No."

"You didn't have a choice."

"I know." Lennox opened her eyes. "Trust me, I'm aware of the situation. I know what I had to do. It was either save some of us or lose all of us. Stringer was the one to take the hit." She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. "That doesn't change the fact that I blame myself. Not because I made the call, but because I allowed us to get into the position where we needed to make the call. I was the one who let the situation get out of control. And Stringer paid the price for my foolishness."

Ironhide was taken aback. "It was your first special ops mission?" he asked hesitantly.

"Hardly." Lennox said with a harsh laugh. "We're good at what we do. I just slipped up when I shouldn't have." She leaned back in the seat, closing her eyes again.

"I'm not sure I understand." Ironhide admitted. "Then again, I never understand it when Prime beats himself up for something that's not his fault."

Lennox laughed again, but this time it sounded more natural. He could feel her tension and pain starting to ease away. "That's because we're leaders. Leaders always have a massive guilt complex."

It was Ironhide's turn to laugh. "I'll believe that." he said. "You need to recharge now."

"Recharge? Oh, you mean sleep." Lennox shrugged and settled into her seat more comfortably. "I will in a bit. I think Dad is taking this rather well, don't you?"

Ironhide snorted in amusement. "All things considered, I think he's taking it remarkably well." he commented. "Somehow, though, I don't think that's what you want to talk about." He hesitated a moment before broaching the subject. "Are you still mad at Prime?"

She sighed. "No, I'm not. It's not like he could have known what was going to happen. I just wish he had told us immediately, but I even understand that. Just don't like it." Her eyes still closed, she added, "Enough for tonight. I don't think Galloway or Starscream are going to give us much time before they attack."

/-----/

Above the parking garage, far from the eyes and sensors of human beings, Starscream shot through the sky. The Autobots were there, he knew. Somewhere in the city, though his scanners couldn't be sure of anything more specific. He opened a communications channel with Soundwave. _"Where are they?"_

"_Location: Unknown. Human satellites unable to penetrate brick and cement."_

"_Then use your own sensors, you idiot! Find them!"_

"_Acknowledged."_ There was a moment of silence, with Starscream cursing the other Decepticon with everything he had in him. Soundwave was loyal to Megatron, even with the former leader dead. Well, mostly dead. If Hook's plan worked, then Starscream would have bigger problems than just pesky Autobots and their human companions. Megatron would be back, and then Starscream would be well and thoroughly slagged if he didn't have Optimus Prime's head to offer on a silver platter.

"_Starscream. Autobots located. Transmitting coordinates now."_

Starscream hesitated. That didn't make any sense! They were right –

Oh. Oh, now that was truly priceless.

"_Decepticons – engage now! Follow my lead!"_ And with that he dove towards the parking garage.

/---/

Kanya glanced at her older brother. "You do realize this is probably the dumbest thing we've ever done, right?" she pointed out dryly. Grisko rolled his eyes.

"Any minute now Starscream is going to figure out where they are." he said just as pointedly. "We'll use them as a distraction and take out the Autobots on our own."

"Yes, with just this?" Kanya held up her sabot rifle, indicating its small size.

"More like with this." Amais said, revealing a small rocket launcher. "I don't care how tough Prime thinks he is. There's no way he can stand a few hits from this sucker."

"Forget about Prime." Grisko ordered. "Galloway told us to focus on his underlings, not him. Starscream and the other Decepticons will take care of him."

"What about Lennox's team?" Kanya couldn't help but point out. "Are we supposed to just gun them down?"

Grisko smiled a predator's smile. "Where would be the fun in that? While the Autobots are occupied with us, I want you to take a few of the others down there and kill them off. Hand to hand combat, just the way you like. They won't stand a chance."

Kanya considered that for a moment, then nodded in satisfaction. "So long as they understand that Lennox is mine. I want to be the one to kill her."

"Not a problem." Amais said. "But you'd better tell them fast – here comes Starscream."

/----/

AN: I am SO sorry for the long update time and the really short crappy chapter! No one was cooperating with me! If anything, Grisko was being nicer to me than Lennox and Ironhide, the little buggers! Well, here it is, for what it's worth, and hopefully the next chapter won't give me such a hard time. The battle has begun!


	23. Author's note and apology

Um, yeah, I know I said I was gonna finish this story before I officially stopped, but school starts in two days and this story officially HATES me. I'm having a hard time with the chapters. So, until this semester is over with, this story is on hold. I'm sorry, but that's the way the world turns.

I'll still be writing the occasional one-shot until I get the chance to finish this – and I will finish it. I did not get through 22 chapters just to crap out now. (grrrr) I'm really sorry about all this. If you have any ideas about the coming battle, please let me know in a review. I know what's going to happen to Lennox, but the others are still up for grabs. So please don't give up on me yet. I promise this story will be completed. Honest!

Shadowblade-tara


	24. Chapter 23

**Look! I'm alive! Here's a remarkably short chapter for you, assuming I didn't lose all my readers. Oh, and you may want to go back and reread Ch 21 – I updated it for stupid errors. **

**chapter twenty-three**

The whine of a familiar engine was the only warning the Autobots got. The parking garage began to shake as something exploded nearby, jolting everyone into wakefulness. Another explosion, this one shaking the foundations, and Ironhide cursed violently.

"Starscream!"

"_Move!"_ The harsh command came from Prime, and everyone was in motion. Optimus was the first out of the garage, flanked by Jazz and Ironhide, followed quickly by Mirage, Bluestreak, the Twins, Ratchet, Bumblebee, and Cliffjumper. "Bumblebee, Cliffjumper – guard Ratchet and Mikaela! Find Starscream, and take him down!"

"Bluestreak! With us!" Jazz snapped. "Let's give the guys some cover!" Bluestreak nodded and followed Jazz. They scaled the parking garage until they had reached the top. Bluestreak hung on with one hand and used the other to aim. Two shots, and he had Starscream on the move. Other Decepticons were moving in, and Jazz used his position on the makeshift 'high grounds' to snipe at the grounded Decepticons. He grinned wolfishly. "Teach you to mess with us!"

"No one messes with the Twins!" In a flash Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had taken on Blackout and Scorponok while Bumblebee and Cliffjumper kept Barricade from firing on Ratchet, who was guarding Mikaela, Rachel, and James. Sam hung back as well, helping Maggie keep Glenn from completely freaking out on her. Jones and O'Connell had taken up positions on either side of the street, taking care to steer clear of the parking garage and still firing on the Decepticons. They were trying to engage Scorponok and give the Twins a better chance against Blackout, but for once the bug wasn't biting. Jones cursed and turned to O'Connell.

"We have to do something!" he shouted.

"Like what?" O'Connell demanded. "There's nothing we can do right now!"

Epps and Rob had taken refuge a bit higher up in the parking garage, using the added height advantage to try and shoot Barricade in the spark or other vulnerable areas. Jazz was making dead sure to use his bulk and bigger gun to keep Barricade from locking on to their location and taking out his bonded.

Suddenly Optimus appeared in the intersection. He had only enough time to realize that this was turning into Mission City once again before Starscream landed in front of him, weapon drawn and cocky grin in place. Optimus almost groaned. "So you're still in control?" he taunted, falling back into a fighting stance. "I figured by now someone would have overthrown you."

Starscream scowled. "Why would they do that when our _true leader_ is just waiting for his chance?" he hissed, putting a sneering emphasis on the phrase 'true leader'. Optimus frowned, but he barely had the time to register the comment as odd before Starscream started pressing forward, smirking the entire time. "Tell me, Prime, where is your little human companion? Or should I say – your _bonded?"_

"Behind you!"

Starscream twisted around in time to catch a rocket to the chest plates. Sing grinned broadly. "Come on – step on me, I dare you." he taunted, already loading another rocket into the handheld launcher. Around the corner, Lennox and Stringer exchanged grins.

"No one told me Sing had a suicidal side." Lennox said with a laugh.

"Well, he's the one who packed the rocket launcher." Stringer said with a shrug. "I guess there's a Lennox wanna-be in all of us."

"That's actually funny." Lennox smirked. "I'll take that as a compliment."

"More importantly," Will said, readying his own weapon and waiting for Optimus's signal, "how did Starscream know about the spark-bonds?" He grimaced as Sing fired off another rocket. The sounds of Optimus joining the battle reached their ears, and suddenly more Decepticons appeared in the streets, ones Lennox didn't recognize. She frowned.

"They're being signaled." she murmured thoughtfully. Tilting her head to the side, she continued, "Someone has to be signaling them. It can't be Starscream – there's too much radio static from the Autobots comm. links. It has to be a different set of frequencies."

Will stared at her. "What are you talking about?"

"The Autobots and Decepticons use the same set of frequencies in their comm. links." Lennox explained absently, studying the Decepticons motions intently. "There's enough differences that the two groups can't listen in on each other without some serious encryption coding, but there are enough similarities that a situation like this would create too much static for this kind of coordinated attack."

"How do you know this?" Will demanded.

Stringer answered for her. "It's something we all picked up when we bonded with the Autobots." she said. "Hey, Lennox – can you contact Ironhide?"

It only took Lennox a moment to realize what Stringer meant. "I can try."

"_Attack!"_

Starscream had walked right into the middle of the intersection, driven there by Sing's rockets and Optimus's relentless pounding. Ironhide, Hound, and Mirage appeared, joining in the ever-increasing battle against Starscream and his unnamed minions. Ironhide fired up his cannon and blasted a 'Con's head off in one fluid motion. Will, Lennox, and Stringer surged forward, opening fire with their own weapons. Wheeljack joined the fight as well, although from what Ratchet had told them he wasn't much of a fighter. He was a scientist first, soldier second, just like Ratchet's primary function was medic.

A cry tore across Stringer's soul, making her gasp and stagger. Lennox grabbed her arm and held her steady, dragging her across the street and into the relative shelter of a store front. "What's wrong?" she had to shout to be heard over the explosions.

"Ratchet needs help!" Stringer cried, one hand pressed to her chest as if it hurt. "Cliffjumper's down – he might be dead – Bee can't hold up under the attack! There's too many of them!"

Lennox scowled. "We can't get to him." she hissed in frustration. There were too many mechs in between them and Ratchet, and there was no way for Ratchet to comm. one of the other Autobots. She glanced out the window, her gaze locking on to Ironhide as the black Topkick proceeded to rip the spinal struts out of yet another nameless 'Con. Slowly, an idea formed.

Well, Stringer had wanted to know if she could contact Ironhide.

She wasn't sure exactly how to do it – there wasn't an instruction manual for telepathy, last time she checked. She simply focused on Ironhide, on the message that Ratchet had somehow passed on to Stringer, on Stringer's panic and fear, and hoped to everything above that Ironhide would understand her. For a moment, she thought she had failed. Then –

Ironhide didn't stagger, didn't show any sign that there was someone desperately trying to get his attention. He simply reached out, grabbed Hound and Wheeljack, and pointed back down the street where Ratchet was relying on Bumblebee, Jazz, and Bluestreak to protect him. Wheeljack and Hound nodded and took off down the street, weapons ready. Lennox sighed in relief.

"He'll be fine, Stringer." she assured her comrade. "Ironhide's taking care of it."

Stringer nodded. "Thank you."

Lennox laughed. "Come on – let's get back out there before Prime wonders where his ankle-biting force went." Stringer couldn't help but laugh at that as she followed Lennox back out into the street, raising her weapon once again.

She also couldn't stop herself from looking down the street to where she knew Ratchet was hiding and wishing she could make it down there and help him.


	25. Chapter 24

**chapter twenty-four**

They had taken refuge in a parking garage two blocks down and across the street from the one the Autobots had hidden in. Grisko glanced over at Kanya, who was laying on her stomach with the sniper rifle out in front of her. "Set?" he asked quietly.

"Getting there." Kanya whispered. "Amais?"

"Will be up here shortly." Grisko assured her. "He knows his role."

"I hope so." Kanya said. "I've been waiting for the chance to take out Lennox for a long time now." She paused and adjusted her scope. "I have her in my sights."

Grisko nodded. "How sure are you of the shot?"

"Very." Kanya never looked up from the sights. "I wouldn't be mentioning it if I thought I was going to miss." Grisko nodded.

"Take it."

Kanya's lips twisted into a feral smile. She tightened her finger on the trigger.

**/----/**

Lennox and Stringer had joined Sing in the battle. All three of them stood just outside of the intersection, about half-way between the battle and the parking garage at the next intersection. Sing shook his head. "I don't get it. This is way too coordinated for what we know about Transformer communications. The Decepticons shouldn't be able to do something like this." he said, panting slightly.

Stringer nodded. "I know. It's almost like they're using human radio frequencies or something."

Lennox blinked. "Radio frequencies." she murmured. "We need Epps."

"For what?" Sing demanded.

"He's our communications expert." Lennox reminded him. "He can set up a system to scan radio frequencies for something the Decepticons are using." She pulled out her handheld radio. "Hey, Epps?"

There was a moment's pause. Then, _"Copy, Lennox."_

"Run a scan. See what you get."

"_Got it. Over and out."_

Lennox hooked the radio onto her belt. "Now we wait and see what he comes up with." she murmured. Stringer and Sing nodded. "Now, what we need to do is –"

Something hard impacted her chest, just below her collar bone, knocking the wind out of her. She staggered backward a few steps, for a moment blissfully unaware of what had just hit her. Then she glanced down, noticing the blood staining her shirt at an alarming rate.

That was when her world exploded in pain.

"Lennox!" Stringer reached out and caught her friend before she dropped to the ground. "Slag it – Lennox!" She quickly pulled out her K-Bar and cut Lennox's shirt open, revealing the bullet hole. A whole new string of curses rained forth. "Oh, man, this is bad." she murmured. "I'm not sure if I can fix this."

Sing knelt beside her. "What do you need?"

"A real medic is what I need." Stringer hissed. "The bullet penetrated deep." She looked up at Sing, trying to think. "I need something to stop the bleeding." She moved to pull off her shirt, but Sing beat her to it. He pressed the shirt against Lennox's wound. The soldier groaned.

Sing met Stringer's eyes. "Hang on, Lennox." he murmured. "We're gonna get you out of here."

/----/

It happened quickly.

Ironhide didn't know much about human physiology. Ratchet had taken up learning more from Stringer and other sources, but Ironhide hadn't paid any attention to the impromptu lessons. He had been more focused on learning more about Lennox than anyone else. But he didn't need to know anything about the human body to know that something horrible had just happened to his bonded.

He could feel the pain explode through his shoulder strut, almost driving him to his knees. He didn't let himself fall over, though. Lennox needed him – he couldn't fall. He twisted around enough to look behind him, where he knew Lennox, Stringer, and Sing had taken refuge from the battle while they worked out a plan. Now Lennox was on the ground, Stringer and Sing hovering over her and working quickly. His optics paled in shock at the sheer amount of blood and cursing.

Long ago, he learned to take cues from Ratchet. The more the mech cursed, the worse the damage was. If he fell silent, then there was no hope.

Sing was cursing. Stringer was silent.

Ironhide glanced from the humans to Optimus, silently begging permission to go. Prime didn't hesitate. He nodded.

Then he was crouched over Lennox, watching the blood drain from her face and realizing there was nothing he could do to stop it. Stringer wasn't qualified to deal with this kind of injury, and Ratchet was all the way down the street dealing with Mikaela Witwicky.

He reached out and gently touched her face with one finger.

_Anna._

/-----/

Kanya smirked. "Good-bye, Lieutenant Lennox."

/----/

An: What happens next? Will Lennox die? And what will happen to Ironhide? If you want to know – review, please! Hopefully next chapter will be longer!


	26. Chapter 25

An: Sorry for the long update time. My Yu Yu Hakusho muse pretty much upped and bit my aft and wouldn't let go. I couldn't go walking around with a rabid muse attached to my aft. That's just not right. So it's a bit late. Eh. Maybe it won't end on a cliffy this time.

**chapter twenty-five**

Ironhide wanted to scream.

He could _feel_ her fading away, taking his spark with her. He knew the dangers when he had agreed to adopt Anna. They all had. If the humans died, then they would die with them. If they died, so would the humans. It was expected, something they had anticipated and considered at length long before Optimus even brought it up. Ironhide knew it would happen.

Just not like this. Primus, _not like this._

He charged into the battle with reckless abandon while Stringer and Sing did what they could. He could feel himself growing weaker even as he ripped the head of an unknown 'Con clean off its shoulders. It was a slow, almost torturous drain, but at least it gave him time to complete this battle. He ignored Optimus's attempts at radio contact. He couldn't even think clearly enough to formulate a response to the inevitable question.

_Dear Primus, she _can't_ die, please she can't she can't – _

He shut down his comm. links. He shut out Optimus. He just fought and felt Anna drift farther away.

/-----/

Epps cursed. "Slag it all, Jazz! It's Grisko again!" He sprang to his feet and ran up to his brother. "Amais is using human radio frequencies to coordinate the 'Cons. Wherever Amais is, Grisko and Kanya ain't far behind."

Jazz took a moment to absorb that. "We gotta get to Prime and the others."

"You got that right."

Jazz turned his focus to the others inside the parking garage. "Ratchet, can you deal with these 'Cons while we get to Prime?"

Ratchet nodded affirmative. "Just leave me Bumblebee and Bluestreak, and I'm good to go." He hesitated. "Jazz – Stringer just told me."

Jazz tilted his helm to the side. "Told you what?"

"It's Anna. She's been shot."

For a moment, no one spoke. Epps's eyes went wide, and his gun almost slid from his hands. Lennox, shot? "No." he breathed. "No – she's not dead. Out of all of us, Lennox is the only one who's never been seriously hurt." He shook his head. "She's not dead."

"Not yet." Ratchet said softly.

Epps gripped his gun tightly, anger and fear flickering across his face before he spun on his heel. "We're gonna find Jones and O'Connell." he muttered. "And we're gonna kick the afts of whoever hurt our squad leader." He continued muttering even as Jazz transformed and allowed him inside, raining curses down on Lennox's assailant's head. With a squeal of tires, Jazz peeled out and shot out of the parking garage.

Ratchet sighed. Perhaps he should have been worried – after all, Stringer had somehow contacted him when she had no access to his internal comm. link. He wondered, distantly, if Jazz had even realized that he knew exactly where Sunny and Sides – and therefore Jones and O'Connell – were, that he was heading in the right direction without even bothering to comm. the Twins. He wondered if the sudden changes were linked to Lennox's injury.

Then he shook the thoughts away. His job now was to protect the Witwicky family. If any of the 'Cons made it past Bumblebee and Bluestreak, they _ wouldn't _make it past Ratchet.

/-----/

On the other side of the city, sitting in a sleek black sports car and driving closer to the battle than was probably sane, was Amais with Galloway driving. Galloway glanced over at the soldier. "Is it done?" he asked.

Amais nodded. "It should be. By now Lennox will be drowning in her own blood. I know Kanya's skills. She won't miss."

Galloway grunted. "Good. I don't want any of them surviving." He turned his focus back to the drive. "What about the Autobot?"

"Ironhide, for whatever reason, is still powering along." Amais said flatly. "Either he's stronger than we thought, or the bonds don't work the way we suspected they would."

"Oh, I know they work." Galloway chuckled. "Starscream assured me they would."

"And we should believe Starscream, why?"

"Starscream wants to keep his position as leader." Galloway said with a smirk. "I'm the only one who knows where Megatron's remains are. If we can kill off the Autobots, I'll make sure old Megs stays buried for a long, _long_ time." His smile was nothing short of predatory. "See, we are politicians. We understand each other."

Amais refrained from saying that _anyone_ who claimed to understand Starscream was a crazy fool. He just kept the radio in his hands in case he needed to give more instructions.

/-----/

In the other parking garage, Kanya and Grisko packed away their gear. They did not speak. Grisko and Kanya were close enough after all this time that words were no longer necessary. A look between them spoke more than five briefing sessions ever would. One look could mean the difference between life and death – for them, or for the poor soul they'd decided to take down.

Kanya stood and turned to face the street. Her eyes went wide in shock. The Autobot weapons specialist hadn't seen it yet, but Kanya _knew_ what she saw. Her mouth opened to call out a warning to Grisko even as she took a belated step backwards.

A small hole appeared in her forehead, the back of her scull exploded, and Kanya was dead before she hit the ground.

Grisko screamed as he watched her fall.

/----/

Down on the street level, Lennox slowly lowered her rifle. She could still feel the bullet in her chest, but the pain was no longer suffocating. In fact, she could barely feel the pain at all. She was barely aware of Stringer and Sing looking at her like she'd been risen from the dead. Her eyes were focused on the parking garage, where her own personal tormentors had been hiding all along. A wicked smirk twisted her lips.

"Good-bye, Kanya."

/---/

An: Ya know, I'm gonna leave that there. Hopefully this will wrap up in the next few chapters. The end is so frigging close! Review, please!


	27. Chapter 26

**ch 26**

Stringer took a hesitant step towards Lennox, as if the woman might crumble if she moved too quickly. "Lennox?" Another step. "You still with us?"

Lennox's gaze snapped down from the parking garage to Stringer. Her eyes were glowing electric blue. "Yeah, I am." she said, and her voice sounded clear enough. She reached up and probed the wound with her fingers. Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. "Slag. That was fragging close."

"How close?" Sing demanded. "That looked like more than close to me."

With barely a thought, Lennox pulled the tattered remains of her shirt aside, revealing the wound in its entirety. Stringer frowned. There was some discoloration of the skin, past the blood and shirt fibers caught in the wound. The entire area around the bullet hole had turned an odd grey color, almost –

Her breath hitched.

_Almost like metal._

Lennox nodded. "Yes, that is what you think it is. No, I don't know how or why." She shrugged and finished shedding the remains of her shirt. After all, she wore a sports bra underneath and everyone on her team had seen both women in more awkward situations than this. "Grisko is up there in that parking garage. My bet is, Amais isn't too far behind him."

That snapped Sing and Stringer back into focus. "Grisko?" Sing hissed. "That explains a lot. But he's not that good with a gun." He indicated Lennox's healed wound with a wave of his hand. Lennox nodded.

"I know. I just took out Kanya."

Stringer nodded. "Are you sure?"

"Positive." Lennox grinned. "Ironhide's targeting system." There was a brush at the back of her mind as she said his name, touches of emotions too confused and jumbled up to name. She glanced over her shoulder. Ironhide was still fighting, still tearing heads off of 'Cons stupid enough to get too close to Prime, but now he was fighting with all of his spark. The weakness she had sensed earlier – while she was changing, she supposed – was completely gone. He didn't look at her, but she knew he saw her. She turned back to her comrades.

"Let's find Grisko and take him out once and for all." she growled.

Sing nodded, loading his own rifle once again. "We'll smear him across the pavement."

"Now that's the trigger-happy I knew was hiding in you somewhere." Lennox teased.

Stringer rolled her eyes. "Let's go before you two blow something up."

/----/

Grisko ran.

There was nothing else he could do – the plan was falling apart at the seams. The Decepticons were falling, too many were being killed by those annoying Autobots, and now Grisko was finally starting to understand why the government wanted the Autobots dead and gone. There was no way to control them.

He didn't know who had taken out Kanya. His mind was still spinning about that. It hadn't been Ironhide, or any of the other Autobots. The bullet had been too small. But none of the humans had that kind of sniping abilities! Kanya had been the best sniper there was! No one on Lennox's team could have made that shot. It was impossible.

He made it all the way down to the floor level of the parking garage before three rifle shots slammed into his chest. He recognized instinctively that each shot came from a different rifle, all three fired in a volley, but that little fact barely had time to register in his mind before everything went dark.

Stringer grinned at Grisko's fallen body. "Man, he made that easy."

"Too easy." Sing said, pacing a circle around the corpse. "Maybe we should shoot him a few more times to be sure."

Lennox shook her head. "You know that Grisko is nothing without Kanya." she said quietly. "Does he have a walkie-talkie on him?"

Sing pulled it free from its belt clip. "Yep."

"Let me see it. Let's see if we can raise Amais on the other end of the line." Sing handed over the radio, and Lennox flicked it on. "Hey, Amais! You on?"

There was a very long pause. Then –

"_How did you get Grisko's radio?"_

Lennox smirked. "We gunned him down, idiot." she said. "Now, unless I'm mistaken, six pissed-off soldiers are heading your way. You can do us all a favor and call off your pet 'Cons, or you can just let our boys find you and rip your heart out. Either way, I'm happy."

Out in the intersection, Starscream heard the entire conversation through his internal comm. link. _"Soundwave, advise!"_

"_Advice: Retreat. Megatron's location: Known."_

Starscream nodded to himself. "Decepticons, retreat!"

"Autobots, fall back!" Prime snapped.

Mirage glanced over at Optimus. "Prime – we can end this now!"

"We have bigger problems right now." Prime ordered. The Autobots hesitated long enough to let the Decepticons disengage from the battle and vanish into the city. There would be another time and day to deal with them – preferably not on this planet. Prime turned to Hound. "Head back to the parking garage. Make sure the others are safe." Hound nodded and took off, transforming on the fly. Ironhide shook his head.

"I'll never figure out how he does that without blowing something." he muttered.

"Not all of us are old." Sing teased, appearing by Prime's side. Optimus chuckled as Ironhide scowled.

"You're lucky you're standing over there." Ironhide growled. "I don't have the energy to step on you."

"Ironhide!"

Ironhide glanced down, relief and affection evident as he knelt down to crouch beside Lennox. Will was making his way towards them as well, his eyes focused on Lennox's shoulder. Before he had the chance to say anything, however, another Jeep pulled up, followed by a Solstice and two Lamborghinis. Epps was riding in the back of the Jeep, which was being driven by none other than Galloway. Lennox noticed with interest that Epps had a gun to the back of his head.

"Look what the cat drug in!" he said cheerfully.

"Where's Amais?" Stringer asked.

"Dead." O'Connell said, getting out of Sunstreaker while Jones got out of Sideswipe. "A clean shot through the base of the scull will do that to a human."

"Clean shot, nothing." Jones snorted. "That was close range. No sniping involved."

"None needed when the idiot let us get that slagging close." O'Connell laughed. The Twins and Jazz transformed and turned their attention to Lennox.

"What happened to you?" Jazz demanded.

Lennox shrugged. "Kanya shot me. No idea what this slag is, though." She glanced down at her shoulder before she shrugged. "Doesn't hurt, so I'm not complaining."

"What do we do now, Prime?" Mirage asked, his voice oddly flat for someone who had just been through a major battle. Optimus took stock of the situation. Lennox was alive and well, although he really wanted Ratchet to look her over before he said anything conclusive about that, everyone was roughed up but still functional and alive. That was a good thing. Energy levels were low, and even the Twins looked like they were about to fall over.

"_Hound to Prime."_

"Yes, Hound?"

"_Ratchet, Bumblebee, Bluestreak, and the humans are fine. Cliffjumper – he didn't make it."_

Prime shuttered his optics with a sigh. "Understood. We're coming in. Tell Ratchet we're going to need his medical scanners."

"_Copy. Hound out."_

Will looked from Lennox to Optimus, looking for all the world like a lost child. "What's going on?"

"That's what I want Ratchet to tell me." Optimus murmured. "Come on, guys. Let's get back to the garage. Oh, and Epps – " he motioned towards a terrified Galloway – "bring that with us. We'll let his government decide what to do with him."

"Probably give him a medal." Epps growled. "You got it, big guy."

Lennox sighed and leaned back against Ironhide. "I feel like I could sleep for a few days." she muttered. Ironhide chuckled.

"Rest will come soon enough." he assured her. He carefully placed his finger against her back, as gentle of a touch as he could manage. "I am relieved you are well, Anna."

Lennox smiled and leaned into the touch. "So am I."

/-----/

AN: Whoo! Second to last chapter, done! The next one up is the final one, boys and girls. Give me lots of reviews, and I'll make it a nice long one for you. All loose ends tied up, and maybe my muse will be extra wonderful to me and give me an idea for a sequel. Although I doubt it. My writing time is limited.


	28. Chapter 27

AN: An update for Semper Fi! It's a Christmas miracle! Everyone stand back and stare in awe!

Final chapter, boys and girls. Hopefully I haven't lost all my readers.

**ch 27**

The meeting, if that's what one wanted to call it, was held in a military bunker not too far from the parking garage where Rachel Witwicky was born. Sam was leaning on Bumblebee's hood while Mikaela and James stayed in the backseat, Rachel sleeping in her mother's arms. Ratchet was actually kneeling in mech form, running scans on Lennox and the other soldiers. O'Connell and Jones had taken up similar positions on Sunny and Sides's hoods as Sam. Ironhide was crouched behind Lennox, waiting patiently for the proceedings to be over with. Jazz, Epps, and Rob were off to one side, still on battle alert. Will stood beside Lennox, shifting his weight and trying not to look utterly confused. Optimus sat in front of Galloway and the President, unable to stand properly in the cramped space.

The President gave Prime a hard look. "I don't care, Prime." he growled. "Those are our soldiers. They betrayed their country, and therefore they fall under our laws. We will take them in for a trial and sentencing."

Ratchet snorted. "Yes, good luck with that." he muttered darkly. Optimus cast him a look before returning his attention to the President.

"And what kind of sentence would you give them?" he growled.

"Traitors are dealt with swiftly in this country." the President said tightly. "There are no second chances. You have no right to question that."

"I do when your rules will affect the lives of _my soldiers._" Optimus bit out.

Lennox glanced over at him. "Traitors are executed, Optimus." she said softly. "He wants to make an example of us."

"No." Ironhide snapped. Jazz stiffened; the Twins immediately transformed and powered up their weapons, while Ratchet ceased his scans and gave the President the filthiest look any mech had seen from him. Optimus merely tilted his helm and gave the President a flat stare.

"What makes you think I'll just hand over my soldiers to your justice?" he asked quietly. "I do not wish to fight your people. I merely want to take my soldiers and leave this planet."

"And you can." the President said agreeably. "But the humans stay here."

"Jetfire will arrive within a week." Lennox said, coming to stand beside Optimus. "Maybe less if the fuel reserves hold out. Once he gets within orbit, we're gone. You can claim you killed us if you want. Just leave us be."

"I can't do that." the President said stiffly. "And who are you to tell me what to do?"

"Mine." Ironhide growled. Lennox chuckled and gave him a gentle nudge through their bond. Ironhide responded in kind.

Ratchet sighed and leaned back, a small smirk forming on his face. "Would it help if I could prove definitively that your human soldiers aren't human?" he asked.

The President blinked. Suddenly, all eyes and optics were on Ratchet. "Explain." Optimus ordered.

Ratchet shrugged. "Lennox – take off your shirt." he requested. Lennox didn't hesitate. She stripped her shirt off and glanced down at her shoulder. The bullet wound had healed completely – but there was no longer fragile skin. She touched the discolored area, and her fingers ghosted over warm metal. Ratchet's smirk turned into a full-fledged grin. "They're like us now. All the soldiers are developing metallic internal structures in place of their organic ones, but Lennox is the only one who's actually changing on the outside as well. They are no longer human, President."

Ironhide grinned. "That means you can't take them. Your laws no longer apply."

Galloway chose that moment to speak up. "Mr. President, we need to quarantine them." he hissed. "This is a fascinating chance to study – "

"No." Wheeljack said immediately. "We will not give up our own for you to satisfy your own sick curiosity."

"Well spoken, Wheeljack." Hound growled. "I may not be bonded to one of them, but they're fragging useful in a fight. Not to mention loyal." Mirage nodded in agreement. Bluestreak stayed silent, but his optics were dark with fury.

The President considered this. "Okay. Here's the problem – you guys are simply too dangerous to leave on planet without supervision." he explained. "However, we really don't have a way to supervise you. Now these soldiers are turning into mini versions of Autobots, and we don't know what all that entails. Quite frankly, you frighten us, Optimus Prime. All of you frighten us."

Optimus nodded. "I can understand that. We inadvertently brought war to your world."

"Yes, you did."

Optimus frowned, considering. "Ratchet, how far have these changes progressed?"

"They're still dependant on oxygen and pressurization, Optimus." Ratchet informed him. "There's no way they could survive an extended space trip for us to meet Jetfire."

Optimus nodded and turned his attention back to the President. "I would request that you give us sanctuary for a while longer." he said quietly. "When Jetfire is within comm.s range, or when the changes progress to the point where space travel is safe. Whichever comes first, we will leave this planet and return to our own, if we can."

The President nodded. "I think I can accept that."

Galloway looked like he was about to have a stroke. "But Mr. President – "

"No buts, Galloway." the President snapped. "This could have been handled much more descreetly. The casualties in the city were never necessary."

"You told me you wanted the Autobots destroyed!"

"If a peaceable solution could not be found." the President retorted. "You think I want to pick a fight with someone who can step on me and think nothing of it? I'm not that stupid." He looked back at Optimus. "Please forgive us for this, if you can. This is what I get for having a bigoted idiot for an advisor."

Epps couldn't help it. He started laughing, the sound dark and almost menacing. "Oh, that's rich!" he growled. "Galloway is bigoted. You're the one who just said you're scared to death of us, but instead of tryin' to understand, you gotta go and try an' kill us!" He left Jazz's side to stand just in front of the President. Sing's eyes were wide; Lennox and Will were trying to hide their laughter. "I know you gonna lie to us. The least you can do is come up with a better way of savin' your ass."

"Epps! Was that necessary?" Sing demanded.

"I don' like bein' taken as an idiot." Epps snarled. "He's a politician – he lies every day. Least he can do is treat us like we got some brain cells."

"True, that." Lennox approved.

The President's gaze darkened. "You will stay here until your ship arrives." he bit out. "Then you will clear all air travel with me before you go anywhere. Understand?"

"Yes, President." Optimus said gravely.

"Good." With that the President and Galloway walked out of the bunker. Lennox turned to Optimus.

"You know they're not going to let us leave." she said.

"I know." Optimus agreed. "We can use Mirage's invisibility shield. When Jetfire arrives, we will leave without informing him. He cannot stop us."

"Damn straight." Jazz muttered darkly.

Lennox leaned back against Ironhide's leg. "Does this mean it's finally over?" she murmured. "I can sleep now?"

Ironhide laughed and picked Lennox up, cradling her to his chest. "Rest, Anna. I'll get you the rest of the way."

A week later, the hoped-for comm. came in from Jetfire. That night, thousands of people in the nearby cities saw the Autobots leave and head out into space, unaware that they also carried six half-breed soldiers, one human family, and four friends who would not be left behind.

Starscream also watched them go, a small smirk on his face. "Now we take this to the stars." he murmured. _"Soundwave – track them. I want to know where they're going."_

The response was immediate. _"Affirmative, Lord Starscream."_

**The End**

AN: Whoo-hoo! It's finally finished! (collapses) Dang, I thought the plot bunny for this would never come back.

Hopefully this wraps up a few loose ends for y'all. Enjoy – and if anyone has an idea for a sequel, this story is up for adoption. It's wide open for one, but I just don't have the bunnies for it anymore. Just PM me for permission.

I am yours truly,

Shadowblade-tara


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